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Things went so bad that the BJP had to release a third list consisting of a single name after one of the candidates – Mohan Singh Bisht – openly rebelled against the party leadership.
One of the main seats where dissent was noticed was Tughlaqabad — a seat Ramesh Bidhuri represented for three terms as MLA since 2008. (Image: PTI)
Ever since the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) announced its two candidate lists for Delhi Assembly Election, there has been growing discontent and dissent within the ranks of the party over candidate selection. In fact, things went so bad that the BJP had to release a third list consisting of a single name after the said candidate – Mohan Singh Bisht – openly rebelled against the party leadership.
From shouting slogans to accusing BJP leaders of being unaware of the ground situation, dissent overflowed, costing embarrassment to the party that takes pride in keeping its cadres disciplined.
PROTESTS OVER TUGHLAKABAD, KARAWAL NAGAR CANDIDATES
One of the main seats where dissent was noticed was Tughlakabad — a seat Ramesh Bidhuri represented for three terms as MLA since 2008. BJP’s second list was released on Saturday. In this, the names of 29 candidates were announced. In this list, Rohtas Bidhuri has been fielded from the Tughlakabad seat. However, in the 2020 assembly elections, Vikram Bidhuri — Ramesh Bidhuri’s relative — contested this seat and he lost to Sahiram of Aam Aadmi Party by more than 13,000 votes, which is the reason he is not being given a ticket this time from Tughlakabad. But that did not stop his supporters from agitating. Protestors from Tughlakabad in South Delhi reached the Delhi BJP office and staged a protest at the gate. The protesting workers demanded a change of candidate for this seat. The matter did not stop at that. In highly dramatised optics that were bound to serve the AAP, angry protesters also raised slogans of “Modi tujhse bair nahi, Rohtas teri khair nahi (We have no discontent with you, Modi, but, Rohtas, you won’t be spared)”.
Afraid of an inside hit job at Rohtas Bidhuri, the current BJP candidate from Tughlakabad, the BJP tried not to take the disciplinary route and instead reached out to them saying, the party will ensure Rohtas will take everyone along once he wins, said sources.
But this did not stop at pro-Vikram Bidhuri slogans. The BJP fielded former AAP minister Kapil Mishra from Karawal Nagar, disregarding the five-time MLA Bisht, forcing Bisht to turn rebel. Bisht — an Uttarakhandi and Rajput face – played the victim card. He openly criticised the BJP leadership and called fielding Mishra, whom he called “aire gaire natthu khaire”, a “big mistake”.
“The BJP thinks they will field anyone and he will win. This is a big mistake. Only time will tell what will happen in Burari, Karawal Nagar, Ghonda, Seelampur, Gokalpuri, and Nand Nagri seats,” he threatened, forcing the BJP to open an overnight communication channel with him to assure Bisht that a third list bearing only his name would be put out. This is exactly what happened as BJP’s third list, bearing only his name, was released announcing he would be contesting from Mustafabad.
MEHRAULI, MADIPUR & MORE
This is not the first time dissent oozed out during the run-up to Delhi election. After the list of candidates was released, the Delhi BJP office witnessed protests like those the party office witnessed by the pro-Vikram Bidhuri faction. Even after the release of BJP’s first list, a similar protest was carried out by some party workers outside the Delhi BJP office against Mehrauli candidate Gajendra Yadav.
Protests were witnessed in Kondli and Madipur as well. In these two constituencies, the BJP feels, protests are being engineered by the party’s “upset” Dalit ticket aspirants “who believe they have been deliberately denied”, said a BJP functionary. Both these seats are reserved seats, and the BJP has fielded women candidates from both places. The saffron party has fielded Urmila Kailash Gangwar from Madipur and Priyanka Gautam from Kondli.
Party sources say, the BJP, unlike other constituencies, have not been entirely successful in convincing the upset members of SC Morcha who were steering the protests in both these places.
