How BJP’s ticket distribution gamble has come back to bite it in UP

Usually protest after ticket distribution is dismissed as an inevitable aftereffect of a democratic process. Candidates who fail to make the cut cry foul, sulk, protest and then fall in line. Very few over-ambitious characters quit in search of greener pastures and greater glory, but they are rare. Things usually are back to normal in two-three days.  

But in Uttar Pradesh, the situation is not returning to normalcy for the BJP. There is a great degree of resentment over the tickets being handed out to outsiders and candidates, who the local leaders believe, have been able to curry favour.  

On Friday, the UP BJP chief Keshav Prasad Maurya and UP in-charge Om Mathur went to take stock of the Kashi Prant, which comprises 12 eastern UP districts. What they saw there was something they would have never expected. They were met with massive protests by BJP workers.

The protestors lay down in the front of the leaders’ car and the BJP workers went on a brawl at a resort outside Varanasi. Slogans were also raised against Keshav Prasad Maurya over the way tickets have been distributed.  

Supporters of the seven-time MLA from Varanasi South, Shyam Dev Roy Chowdhary, or Dada, as he is locally known, protested in front of PM’s constituency PRO office. Workers demanded that ticket should be given to Dada. Even Shyam Dev was shocked at the turn of events.

He said: “I am physically fit and everyone knows my report card. I will abide with the decision of the party but at least they should have given a valid reason about why I am being rested.” His supporters are livid and “we will teach party a lesson in this election” was the common refrain.

Keshav Maurya asked the media to leave the room where this meeting was being held, but inside he told the office bearers that “if we don’t win 2017, then we won’t be able to win 2019”.  

This was not the only protest in the eastern region. In the Assembly constituency of Union home minister Rajnath Singh in Chakia, effigies of Amit Shah and Keshav Prasad Maurya were burned and slogans were raised against them. BJP workers were protesting against ticket being given to Sharda Prasad, who has switched sides from the BSP.

In Hardoi’s Gopamau, BJP leader Sarvesh left the party along with hundreds of supporters and joined SP in presence of Naresh Aggarwal. 

In the evening, came more news of revolt. State president of Hindu Yuva Vahini, Sunil Singh, said that the Vahini felt insulted and they would also contest the election in eastern UP. This sent shockwaves in the political circuit, as Mahant Aditynath, BJP MP, is the patron of this organisation. Sunil Singh even went on to threaten: “Let’s see how the BJP crosses the 100 mark.” 

Mahant Adityanath later said that Hindu Yuva Vahini was a cultural organisation and action would be taken if anybody tried to use it for its political agenda. He also added that every member of Hindu Yuva Vahini stood with the BJP.   

All this political drama and turmoil took place in just one day, Friday, January 27. Uttar Pradesh, both West and East, is abuzz with a series of mutinies by local BJP leaders and workers. And though central BJP leaders have been dismissing these protests as something that always happen when few popular leaders don’t get a ticket, the state leaders are telling a different narrative.  

"The way party has gone ahead and ignored local leaders and given tickets to outsiders has not gone down well with the local leaders. If the Central leadership thinks this is going to die soon, then they are mistaken. The party has to understand that not everybody out there is vocal and there are many more who are upset but keeping mum currently. Cadre has to just turn disinterested to sabotage our chances", said a senior UP BJP leader.

Ticket distribution is fast turning out to be the villain of the piece as far as BJP is concerned. All kinds of accusations are flying thick and fast and if you compare it with other parties, the situation is yet to settle for the BJP.  

A BJP leader from the Eastern UP said, “If the BJP doesn’t perform well in this crucial election in UP, ticket distribution will have to take the lion share of the blame.”

Though the upper castes of Rajputs and Brahmins have been given total of 127 seats between them, there is a feeling within a section of the party that the BJP is just concentrating on OBCs and MBCs.  

Another issue which is fast becoming a big bone of contention within the state BJP is the role of state chief Keshav Prasad Maurya in the ticket distribution. Apart from this, the fact that wards of few MPs have been overlooked for outsiders have also left them displeased and in turn disinterested.  

Whether the BJP tides over these protests and dissatisfaction to script a big victory in UP only time will tell, but the current situation on the ground doesn’t paint a rosy picture for them.

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