Review or not to review – BJP mulls options as dissent over tickets brews in Haryana

However, there are some who believe this is unlikely. “If you replace, say, five to six candidates with new names, it is not as if the seats will become a surety. They will be appeased, but the ones whose names were originally announced will become sullen, and those who were demanding a change in some other seats but don’t get it will become all the more bitter. Changing names in a list already announced also comes with its own set of problems and does not portray the party as sure-footed,” said a BJP leader from Haryana.

However, the buzz has persisted among party insiders in the state ever since several leaders raised the banner of revolt after the first list of candidates was made public.

BJP state OBC morcha chief and former minister Karan Dev Kamboj had openly voiced his anger over being denied the ticket from both Indri and Radaur – two Assembly seats he was eyeing. “I have heard nothing about a review being planned on these seats,” Kamboj told The Indian Express.

Former Haryana minister Kavita Jain had cried in front of her supporters after being denied the party ticket from Sonipat, where Nikhil Madan, a former Congress member, has been fielded. This has made Sonipat one of the seats where there is plenty of speculation regarding the possibility of a review.

In Kalanaur, too, there has been anger among party workers from the leather-working Dalit caste group over the ticket being given to Renu Dabla, a member of the Scheduled Caste (SC) Dhanuk community. A mahapanchayat of the leather-working caste – the most populous among SCs in the state – demanded that a candidate from its community be fielded instead.

On Kapoor Valmiki being chosen as the party’s candidate from SC-reserved Bawani Khera seat, Haryana’s Minister of State for Social Justice Bishamber Valmiki, who expected to be fielded from here, also came out openly against the party and its candidate choice.

From Kalka too, former Congress leader Venod Sharma’s wife Shakti Rani Sharma was chosen over former MLA Latika Sharma, whose supporters immediately expressed their anger over the party’s decision. Some insiders believe this seat could be up for review, though Latika had lost the 2019 Assembly elections after winning the seat in 2014.

Another seat caught in the eye of storm is Tosham, where Shashi Ranjan Parmar has decided to contest as an Independent after being denied a ticket. The party’s candidate here is Shruti Choudhry, daughter of Kiran Choudhary, who won this seat four times with the Congress before joining the BJP months ago.

In Hisar, the party has had to countenance the open displeasure of Savitri Jindal, mother of industrialist and BJP MP Naveen Jindal – who joined the BJP earlier this year and won the Kurukshetra Lok Sabha seat – over being denied a ticket. Kamal Gupta is the party candidate from here.

As of now, the party has said little about the unprecedented show of dissent by multiple leaders.