Trouble comes ticketless to BJP

Among those shouting slogans were supporters of Satish Upadhyay, who sources revealed, was told to prepare his nomination papers till Monday night, only to be ditched at the last moment.

“A senior leader, who is part of the parliamentary committee, asked him if his papers were in order. But when the candidates’ list was drawn, Upadhyay was nowhere on it. Union Health minister J P Nadda said Upadhyay will not contest elections. Upadhyay felt let down,” a senior leader said.

Sources also said Amit Shah himself had earlier asked Upadhyay if he wanted to contest and he had replied in the affirmative. What troubles the party more is that he was kept in the dark about his candidature till the last moment.

“He has worked hard. When he asked what went wrong, Shah reportedly told him that nothing was wrong, but he needs to lead Delhi,” a source claimed.

The BJP leadership sought to downplay the protests. “Upadhyay is a committed worker and has raised the bar for loyal workers. We are glad to hear him say he will contest on all 70 seats,” Delhi in-charge Prabhat Jha said.

But the dissent on Monday also came from other quarters. The party’s candidate from Okhla Assembly constituency in the last polls, Dhir Singh Bidhuri, resigned alleging that the ticket had been sold. Along with Bidhuri, four mandal presidents Ranbir Singh, Om Prakash, Avdhesh Kumar and Dr Chattrapal also quit. Supporters of Bidhuri heckled Upadhyay as he rushed out of the office through the back door.

Party sources believe that it would be difficult for Shah to secure an easy victory if the cadre are disgruntled.

Earlier in the day, supporters of Upadhyay asked him to protest against the party’s decision to deny him a ticket.

But, addressing the workers, he said. “The party has given me the greater responsibility of contesting from all seats. We have to make BJP win. Those who are not with me on this can leave the office.”

His supporters then joined those of Shikha Rai, who distributed pamphlets against Kasturba Nagar candidate Ravinder Chaudhary. “This is not fair. Shikha Rai should be given a ticket,” Rai’s supporters said.