BJP faces internal turmoil as Kshitij Mohan challenges Virendra Singh's Renomination in Wazirganj

Gaya: Uncharacteristic defiance by senior party leader Kshitij Mohan Singh over renomination of Virendra Singh as the BJP candidate from Wazirganj constituency of the district has put the party in a spot.In a rare act of defiance, Kshitij Mohan, in a social media post, has levelled corruption charges against the party’s official nominee, accusing him of getting cut money in the ongoing development schemes. An emotional, Kshitij said that he feels hurt by the party’s decision as he sacrificed everything and preferred bachelorhood to serve the party.In the post, Kshitij alleged that besides burning the party flag in the past, Virendra publicly humiliated senior party leader late Pramod Mahajan. According to Kshitij, he will leave no stone unturned to ensure the defeat of the party candidate.Refuting the charge of receiving cut money from the beneficiaries of PM housing scheme, PDS dealers and others, Virendra, the sitting MLA, said that these were just the musings of a “frustrated man whose claim to contest the seat has been rejected by the party”. This is all rubbish, said the MLA.Playing down the outburst of a senior party leader, district BJP chief Prem Prakash, alias Chintu, said that such things are normal during election period, and nothing much should be read into it.Asked whether disciplinary action would be taken against Kshitij, the district BJP chief said that he was a senior and dedicated leader of the party. “We will try to assuage his hurt feelings,” he said.There is also disquiet in the BJP over the nomination of Trivikram Singh as the party candidate from Aurangabad town, a seat where it has been doing reasonably good in parliamentary as well as assembly elections. In 2020, party candidate Ramadhar Singh lost the election by a small margin of about 2,000 votes.But Ramadhar, the four-time winner from Aurangabad, has not been given a party ticket this time. A furious Ramadhar told this newspaper that the party’s official nominee would forfeit his security deposit as he is not a local resident. Trivikram is from Rohtas.The four-time MLA said there was no dearth of local talent in the party.