Panchayat elections: Dissent in BJP — first protests from PM’s Varanasi

The local BJP unit of Varanasi has declared Arun Kumar Singh alias Rinku Singh as the party-supported candidate for a zila panchayat member from Arazi Line Vikas Khand-5. Singh is facing two cases of murder and Arms Act.

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When contacted, Singh — who claimed to be the block convener of Bajrang Dal, the youth wing of VHP, claimed he has been acquitted in one murder case last week. “I was falsely implicated in the case. Another case, related to murder of a Dalit in 2008, is still pending. Here too, I was falsely framed only because the body was found in my brother’s orchard,” he added.

When asked about Singh’s candidature, Bajpai maintained no murder accused will contest the upcoming polls with BJP’s support.

On reports of resentment among workers and clashes over selection of candidates in different districts, the state president said: “Elections are taking place across the state for nearly 81,000 seats, but I have received only 200 objections so far. Comments have been sought from district and regional units on all these objections… the issues will be settled.”

In Agra, district vice-president and former zila panchayat member Urmila Prakash has been canvassing in Ward 15 for the last 20 days. However, the BJP recently declared Rakesh Mahaur as the candidate replacing her. Alleging partiality, Prakash is set to stage dharna at the party office.

When asked, Agra district president Ashok Rana said he does not know Rakesh Mahaur personally and party’s MP from Fatehpur Sikri, Chaudhary Babu Lal, would have recommended his name. “I had supported Urmila Prakash. But now when the party has declared someone else as the official nominee, she is making baseless allegations against me,” Rana claimed.

While the party state unit has formed committees in every district — comprising district, regional and state leaders along with local MPs and MLAs — to shortlist a panel of three probable candidates for every seat, Ashok Rana and Chaudhary Babu Lal are reportedly collecting separate applications for party tickets.
Party state in-charge for panchayat polls, Shiv Pratap Shukla, said: “Anybody receiving applications are sending the same to these committees.”

Last Sunday, supporters of BJP president for Jhansi district, Ashok Rajpoot, and leader Pramod Kumari had clashed at the party district headquarters when BJP state vice-president Ashok Kataria had called a press conference to declare the list of candidates. While Rajpoot wanted to contest from Ward 4, the party decided to support Pramod Kumari. Kataria had to cancel the press conference after supporters of both Rajpoot and Pramod Kumari entered into a scuffle.

“I am the district president… my candidature will show the party’s seriousness for panchayat polls. But my supporters got agitated when the party decided to support Pramod Kumari, who had joined BJP last year from BSP. She earlier was in SP,” Rajpoot said, adding that party has now decided not to support any candidate in Ward 4 and hence, he will now contest the election.

“Such resentment among workers sustain for only 3 to 4 days… the issues are settled after that. These incidents will not affect the party’s image,” said Shiv Pratap Shukla.