Dissent in BJP over tickets to ‘outsiders’ grows louder in Uttar pradesh, Uttarakhand

There are rumblings of protest that seem to be growing louder in the BJP’s UP and Uttarakhand units after declaration of the first list of candidates for the 2017 polls. The party which had welcomed turncoats and rebels in large numbers earlier this year in both the states is now faced with rebellion of its own by party men who have been ignored to favour “outsiders”.
On Wednesday, BJP MP from Fatehpur Sikri Choudhary Babulal raised the banner of revolt and announced that he would oppose the candidature of Pakshalika Singh, wife of Raja Aridaman Singh, who recently left the Samajwadi Party to join the BJP. She has been fielded from Bah.
In Baghpat, party workers are miffed over tickets to one community — Jats — in all the five assembly segments. Baghpat Lok Sabha seat is represented by former Mumbai police commissioner Satya Pal Singh, a Jat. Local BJP workers are said to have burnt the effigy of Singh on Tuesday. The party has given tickets to rebel RLD leader Yogesh Dhama, KP Malik, Satyender Tagana and Dr Manju Shivach.
Resentment has been reported from several districts in UP. BJP party workers in Firozabad protested against allotment of ticket to BSP rebel Dr Mukesh Verma from Shikohabad constituency. Similarly, in Kasganj district, BJP supporters and party workers burnt effigies and threw black ink on posters of national president Amit Shah, Union home minister Rajnath Singh and Rajasthan governor Kalyan Singh for allotment of ticket to BSP rebel Mamtesh Shakya from Patiyali constituency.They warned that the “entire cadre” of BJP’s Patyali constituency would resign if the party didn’t revoke its decision.
The story is the same in Bijnor, where many are miffed at the surprise announcement of a ticket for Suchi Chaudhary, who some claimed had never been even heard of earlier. “Her only claim to fame is her husband, Aishwarya Chaudhary, leader of a BJP-affiliate organistaion who has been accused of playing a role in the Peda communal clashes where four persons were killed and many injured,” said a BJP leader.
The ticket announcement has upset leaders in Shahjahanpur too. In fact, BJP district chief in Shahjahanpur, Rakesh Dubey, tried to immolate himself outside the party office in Lucknow on Wednesday. Dubey, a party loyalist for 28 years, had been seeking to fight from Dadraul. He was arrested and later handed over to police. A BJP leader said, “Perhaps the party has gone too far to woo some communities at the cost of antagonising others.”