Delhi polls 2015: A day after BJP unveils list, protests erupt in Delhi unit

NEW DELHI: A day after the BJP declared its list of candidates for the assembly polls, supporters of senior party members, including Delhi unit chief Satish Upadhyay, staged protests at the party's state and national headquarters and in various parts of the city on Tuesday. Some disappointed ticket seekers forwarded their resignation to Upadhyay.

The protestors, who claimed to be supporters of Delhi BJP vice-presidents Shikha Rai and Abhay Verma and Upadhyay himself, stormed into the BJP office. Shouting slogans against senior party office-bearers, they demanded that the party's brass reconsider its decision.

"Why was he (Upadhyay) denied a ticket? The party will win the seat if he contests,'' said one of the supporters. Some of them also tried to block traffic in the area and gheraoed Upadhyay's car, after which police was called in to manage the crowd.

Shouting slogans, supporters of Rai and Verma demanded the resignation of Upadhyay and senior BJP members. Speaking to TOI, Upadhyay said, "This (resentment) is natural, as all party workers want their leader to get a ticket. This happens every time. I'm sure this will settle down in a day or two."

On Tuesday, the BJP also announced candidates for the four seats for which tickets had not been given on Monday. Former South Delhi mayor Sarita Chaudhary will contest from Mehrauli, Rakesh Gulia will take on President Pranab Mukherjee's daughter Sharmistha in Greater Kailash, Sanjay Singh will fight from Vikaspuri and Nandini Sharma from Malviya Nagar.

Upadhyay was earlier believed to be the frontrunner for the Mehrauli seat. But on Tuesday evening, he issued a statement saying, "The party had withheld the decision for Mehrauli and Malviya Nagar seats because of me. But I have decided not to contest the elections, as I want to work to strengthen the party. We also have to fight against those who want anarchy in the city.''

In Rohini, supporters of former BJP MLA Jai Bhagwan Aggarwal protested in the area and called a meeting where they requested him to speak to the party brass. Sources said BJP president Amit Shah had asked Aggarwal to meet him.

Dhir Singh Bidhuri, who had contested from Okhla last time, has resigned from the party. Bidhuri alleged that the party has given a ticket to a controversial person. "The ticket could have been given to any party worker. Did the party do a background check on the candidate (Brahm Singh Bidhuri)? I had fought the last election against him. I can't campaign for him. The party has been extremely unfair in giving tickets. Along with me, four mandal presidents have also resigned,'' said Bidhuri.

Some protestors were also unhappy that the party had ignored veteran members and given tickets to new inductees. In Jangpura, BJP workers protested against the decision to give a ticket to former Delhi assembly speaker M S Dhir, who switched from AAP to BJP.

Similar protests were also reported from Model Town, Ballimaran and Nangloi, among others.

"On Tuesday, when (BJP's CM-candidate) Kiran Bedi was addressing a meeting of party workers, the crowd was chanting slogans in favour of Harsh Vardhan (who was earlier the MLA for Krishna Nagar, where Bedi is being fielded)," claimed a senior party official.