Ticked off over ticket

Sampla was supposedly upset with the party's ticket distribution in Punjab

On Tuesday, some Punjab-based journalists tweeted that Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Punjab unit chief Vijay Kumar Sampla had quit. Sampla, also a junior minister in the Narendra Modi government, was supposedly upset with the party’s ticket distribution in the state and said that his wish was not honoured for one particular seat. Sampla was soon at BJP President Amit Shah’s home in New Delhi and denied that he had offered to quit as the Punjab unit chief. However, all through the past week news had kept trickling in that all was not well among the senior party leadership over ticket allotment for Assembly seats in Uttar Pradesh and Punjab. Two senior leaders, who feel a sense of ownership for BJP units in Punjab and Uttar Pradesh, had arguments with the party’s top leadership after finding that some of their recommendations on ticket distribution were not taken into account.