Revolt over tickets in BJP's Chhattisgarh unit

Bhopal: Selection of candidates in at least half a dozen Assembly constituencies by BJP in poll-bound Chhattisgarh has triggered rebellion among local workers and leaders in the party.

Party workers hit the streets and staged demonstration at the BJP state headquarters in Chhattisgarh's capital city of Raipur on Sunday demanding to change candidates in their respective Assembly constituencies.

BJP on Saturday released first list of 78 candidates for the two-phase Assembly polls in Chhattisgarh that are scheduled to be held on November 12 and 20.

BJP workers in Patan Assembly constituency in Durg district on Sunday staged a demonstration at state party headquarters in Raipur opposing candidature of Motilal Sahu, describing him as an outsider.

They demanded to replace him with the local party leader B. Baghel who, they felt, could be a match for the Chhattisgarh Pradesh Congress Committee (PCC) president Bhupesh Baghel, billed to be fielded by his party in the constituency.

Similarly, BJP’s decision to replace state minister Ramseela Sahu with Chandrika Chandrakar in the Durg (rural) Assembly seat has also been stoutly protested by the former’s followers.

Local BJP workers hit the streets in district headquarters town of Gariabandh in protest against the replacement of sitting party MLA Gabardhan Majhi with ex-MLA Damuru Pujari in the Bindra Nawagarh assembly seat this time.

In Bijapur (ST) Assembly seat in Bastar, former MLA Rajaram Todem on Sunday threatened to file nomination as an independent candidate in protest against re-nomination of state minister Mahesh Gagda in the seat.

A senior BJP leader disclosed to this newspaper that RSS leaders have been dispatched to these areas to pacify the rebels.

The party has dropped one minister and 14 sitting MLAs in its first list of 78 candidates. A total of 14 women candidates figured in the list.

The party seemed to have experimented with social engineering in selection of candidates. While six candidates represented royal families, five are Brahmins.

Similarly, of the 18 OBC candidates, ten are from Sahu community, six are Kurmis and the rest two are from other sections of OBC communities.