Chhamb people protest at BJP office
Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, Aug 28: Jammu and Kashmir BJP president, Ravinder Raina on Wednesday was forced to cut short his speech by irate party workers seeking explanation over denial of ticket to party leader, Rohit Dubey from Shri Mata Vaishno Devi seat in Reasi district.
Dubey’s name was replaced in the revised list of candidates with former MLA Baldev Raj Sharma.
Raina rushed to Katra where Dubey’s supporters had come out on the roads and blocked the Highway outside the newly set up party office to protest the party’s decision to field Sharma in his place.
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Shri Mata Vaishno Devi seat is going to polls along with 25 other segments in the second phase on September 25.
Dubey, who is district president of the BJP for Reasi, was named in the initial list of 44 candidates issued by the party on Monday which was subsequently withdrawn. However, in the rescinded list of 29 candidates issued on Tuesday, the party named Sharma in place of Dubey while all other names remained the same for the same set of constituencies announced earlier.
As Raina reached the party office, he was greeted by hundreds of slogan-shouting workers demanding an explanation for denying ticket to Dubey and replacing him with Sharma.
“We know Dubey is a hardworking and dedicated member of the BJP whose family has been associated with the party for generations… we are in election mode and have to fight together with our party’s mission of nation first, party second and self last,” he said while addressing the workers.
Raina’s speech was frequently interrupted by the party workers, demanding an answer in clear terms whether Dubey would be given a ticket or not. Soon he had to abandon his speech as the party workers stood up despite attempts by Dubey to pacify them.
“Dubey is a dedicated worker of the BJP whose family has a history of backing the party since the days of Jan Sangh. He will always remain with the party,” Raina later told reporters in response to a question that many of his supporters are pressing him to fight as an independent from the constituency.
The workers removed the road blockade on the intervention of Dubey who said the party’s decision had left the workers disappointed.
“What I am today is because of the party and it is not good to block the road and cause inconvenience to the commuters including Vaishno Devi pilgrims who are stranded. I was told to wait till tomorrow,” Dubey told the gathering.
He said senior leaders are coming from Delhi and “we will come to know about the party’s decision”.
“I do not know the reason why my name was dropped after being included in the first list. It is premature to say what I will do next. Whatever the party workers will decide, I will respect their decision,” he said while talking to reporters.
Former provincial president of Democratic Progressive Azad Party (DPAP) Jugal Kishore Sharma also met Dubey and said “he is my younger brother”.
“I am not affiliated to any party right now because I have left DPAP… I felt happy for him when his name was listed in the BJP candidate list and decided not to fight the elections against him,” the former Minister said.
Meanwhile a strong protest by aggrieved party activists continued for the third consecutive day at BJP Headquarters at Trikuta Nagar today against the distribution of party mandate to the candidates which are unacceptable to people and party activists.
Today a strong protest was held in front of BJP office here by irate party activists and people from Khour block of Chhamb Assembly segment. The protestors were demanding that a local candidate from the area be given mandate from Chhamb constituency who is familiar with the area and problems of people there.
They alleged that an outsider was thrust by the party by giving him mandate and the local leaders were totally ignored. A protestor from the area said that earlier feedback was sought from the local people of the area on selection of candidate and the local people had given names of three to four party activists who are active in party for decades together. “But to our surprise no name among them was considered and an outsider was given mandate from the area which is not acceptable to them”, he added.
Meanwhile, All Jammu-Kashmir Brahmin Sabha has lodged a protest against tickets distribution by the BJP high command ignoring the Brahmin representation particularly in Brahmin dominant seats of Jammu Mahanagar i.e Jammu East & Jammu West.This was stated by Atul Sharma, President of all Jammu and Kashmir Brahmin Saba in a press conference here.
Brahmin Sabha has shown great annoyance against the leadership of Bhartiya Janta Party for ignoring a large section of society in which a huge number of Brahmins Population is there and especially in some constituencies where the Brahmin Population is more than 40 percent.
Atul Sharma has appealed all political parties for not ignoring any representation to the Brahmin Community in most of the brahmin dominant constituencies of Jammu Mahanagar which was once represented by the leader of masses and founder members of Praja Parishad like Pandit Prem Nath Dogra, Pandit Tarlochan Dutt, Mangat Ram Sharma and others.
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