Denial of ticket: Ballia BJP MP supporters continue protest

VARANASI: BJP’s lotus (party symbol), which bloomed for the first time in Ballia in 2014, seems to be in troubled waters in 2019 as the supporters of incumbent MP Bharat Singh are on a warpath after he was denied ticket for the parliamentary election and continued their protest on the second day on Thursday. Party leaders, however, claim that the issue would be sorted out soon.
Singh has been replaced by Bhadohi MP Virendra Singh in Ballia for Lok Sabha polls.Slogans like ‘Virendra Singh vapas jao’ (Virendra Singh go back) and ’BJP se Bharat Singh nahi to koi nahi’ (Bharat Singh or no one else) raised by his supporters. However, BJP senior leaders take it casually claiming that the protest would not damage party’s prospect and things would be managed.
BJP men took out a procession from the premises of Ballia Zila Panchayat to the party office, where they sat on dharna. Raising slogans against Virendra Singh, they demanded from the central leadership to withdraw its decision of fielding Virendra Singh from Ballia Lok Sabha seat.
“We are shocked after knowing the decision of the ‘kendriya netritva’ (central leadership) to field Virendra Singh from Ballia in place of Bharat Singh,” said the latter’s supporter Ashok Singh.
“The decision would prove costly to the party in Ballia in the parliamentary poll,” he warned adding that the party workers would not accept Virendra Singh in Ballia as he had done nothing for the district. Some of them also burnt the effigy of Virendra Singh as mark of protest.
However, BJP state general secretary Salil Vishnoi claimed that “it is a momentary upheaval that would be calmed efficiently”. “Such protest is natural when someone is denied ticket, but it would not harm party’s prospect in the polls,” he told TOI over phone on Thursday.
In 2014 LS poll, Bharat Singh had defeated two-time SP MP Neeraj Shekhar by a margin of about 1.39 lakh votes. Ballia had been represented by former Prime Minister Chandra Shekhar for eight times since 1977 to 2004, except 1984 when Jagannath Chowdhary of the Congress won. The seat went to Chandra Shekhar’s son Neeraj Shekhar, who contested on SP ticket and won in 2007 and 2009.