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Posters calling Kripal Parmar an outsider crop up in Fatehpur
Printed posters, calling former Rajya Sabha MP Kripal Parmar of BJP an ‘outsider’, were put up overnight at various places by some unknown people.
Even as the main political parties are yet to announce the list of candidates for the November 12 general assembly elections, trouble is brewing up for the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in Fatehpur assembly where posters have cropped up against former Rajya Sabha member Kripal Parmar, who is a frontrunner for the ticket.
Printed posters, calling Parmar an ‘outsider’, were put up overnight at various places by some unknown people.
Slogans like “Apni Matee, Apna Poot, Nahi Chalega Bahari Doot (Our land, our son, we will not accept an outsider)” and “Fatehpur Ki Janta Kare Pukar Chakki Par, Hameha Ke Liye Par (This time will send him across Chakki River once and forever) were written on posters.
The slogans are a veiled reference to Parmar’s hometown Pathankot in Punjab. Chakki River forms the boundary between Punjab and Himachal. The incident also indicates that the local BJP unit is plagued with factionalism.
Earlier too, similar posters had cropped up when he fought the 2017 assembly elections and in November last year when he was a frontrunner for the BJP ticket.
Parmar had lost to Congress’ Sujan Singh Pathania by a small margin of 1,284 votes.
The main reason for his loss was infighting in the Fatehpur BJP unit. Party leader Baldev Thakur had contested as an independent and secured more than 13,000 votes while former BJP MP Rajan Sushant had polled over 6,200 votes.
During the 2021 by-elections, Parmar resigned as state BJP vice-president after losing the ticket race to Baldev Thakur and contemplated contesting as an independent.
The party, however, managed to pacify him. Similar posters calling Baldev Thakur an outsider had also cropped up in the area during by-elections as his ancestral village falls in the neighbouring Jawali constituency.
Interestingly, the slogan “Abki Bar Chakki Par” was coined by the BJP against Congress veteran Sat Mahajan who would contest from Nurpur.
When contacted Parmar said it was an act of his detractors who don’t want him to contest from Fatehpur, even though he has been living in Fatehpur for many-many years.
“These are the people who feel threatened by me. Such people are both in BJP and the opposition party. I have stopped taking notice of such foolish things,” he said.
Parmar collected a nomination paper from returning officer on Monday, even as the party has not finalized its nominee from Fatehpur.
When asked, he said the nomination papers were collected as per the advice of astrologers.
