BJP rank upset with Laxman's nomintion

BJP workers demonstrated outside party's New Delhi office protesting allotment of Rajgarh to Laxman Singh.

In an indication of growing resentment among BJP cadres over distribution of party tickets to new entrants, party workers from Madhya Pradesh on Thursday staged a noisy demonstration at the party headquarters in New Delhi protesting allotment of Rajgarh seat to Laxman Singh, brother of former state Chief Minister Digvijay Singh.

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Shouting slogans such as "Laxman Singh Hatao, Rajgarh Bachao' (Remove Laxman Singh and save Rajgarh), about 150 BJP activists from Rajgarh district staged a sit-in outside the main gates of the party office.

"There is deep resentment among the party workers and the electorate. Before joining BJP, Singh had been extremely abusive of the party and was responsible for putting behind the bars several party and RSS workers," Ram Prasad Singla, head of the district unit's sports committee, said.

Earlier, the workers met party general secretary Pramod Mahajan and submitted a memorandum to party president M Venkaiah Naidu demanding Singh be changed.

"Let the party nominate anyone but not Laxman Singh," they said.

However, party General Secretary Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi ruled out any change in Singh's candidature or that of any of the 363 candidates announced so far.

Besides Singh, the party had given tickets to newcomers including former UP Chief Minister Kalyan Singh, former Congress leaders VC Shukla, S Bangarappa, Balram Singh Yadav and Arif Mohammad Khan besides Maneka Gandhi, Dharmendra and PD Elangovan.