After tickets to leaders’ kin, BJP faces rebellion from cadre

BIJNOR: In his closing remarks of the Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) two-day National Executive in the national capital on January 9, Prime Minister Narendra Modi without invoking 'one family, one ticket' norm exhorted party leaders not to ask for a ticket for their relatives. Ignoring the ‘advice’, the BJP, however, on Sunday announced three candidates from Western UP who are close relatives of sitting MPs.
In Bijnor, BJP declared Sushant Singh as its candidate from the Badapur seat. He is the son of Moradabad MP Sarvesh Kumar. Similarly, Kairana MP Hukum Singh got a ticket for his daughter Mriganka Singh, who, according to insiders, is a political greenhorn. In Noida, Union home minister Rajnath Singh’s son Pankaj Singh got the party ticket.
Those denied tickets have alleged nepotism and declared that they will fight against the BJP candidates as independents.
In Bijnor, party leader Indradev Singh, who is a former four-time MLA from the area, has raised the banner of revolt against the BJP candidate Sushant Singh and announced that he would fight the elections against him.
Indradev Singh told TOI, “The party has betrayed its workers. There is a faction in the party at the top level which does not want BJP to come to power in the state. As a result, they have declared weak candidates for assembly polls in UP on many seats.” Singh also claimed that many party tickets have been sold.
“I am holding meetings of my supporters in the constituency. I have decided to contest polls against Sushant Singh though it is yet to be deiced if I should join some other party or run as an independent,” Singh added.
According to the sources, there is a political feud going on between Singh and Moradabad MP Sarvesh Kumar. In the last assembly polls, when Singh contested from Badapur seat on a BJP ticket, Sarvesh Kumar fielded his wife Sadhana Singh from the same seat on a ticket from a local party called Mahaan Dal. In the polls, she got 29,000 votes resulting in defeat of Indradev Singh who got 42,000 votes and lost the polls to BSP’s Mohammad Ghazi who garnered 67,000 votes. “Due to infighting within the party, BJP lost this seat,” a source said.
In the 2014 Lok Sabha polls too, Indradev Singh’s son Saurabha Partap filed his nomination against Sarvesh Kumar from Moradabad on a TMC ticket. However, he later withdrew from the polls and Kumar went on to win.
In Noida, it is a similar situation where another BJP leader, Sanjay Bali, has resigned from all party positions after candidature of Rajnath Singh’s son Pankaj Singh was announced. The BJP leadership, however, played down the rift in the party. “The party has taken right decisions and all candidates have been fielded according to the procedure of the party. There is no rift and BJP will win the polls with thumping majority,” said Bhupendra Singh, the party’s west UP in-charge.