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Internal feud within the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and also Congress has come to the fore over the selection of candidates for the Rajya Sabha in Chhattisgarh.
The Congress party had fielded Chaya Verma as its official candidate, while BJP had placed its bet on the state’s former home minister Ramvichar Netam, dropping the sitting member and heavyweight leader Nandkumar Sai. Both the candidates filed their nomination papers today afternoon.
A section of Congress leaders has openly criticised the party’s decision to nominate Chaya Verma, a former district panchayat president. “If the Chhattisgarh Congress Chief (Bhupesh Baghel) feels that Chaya Verma will drive the party to power in next elections, it is the biggest amiss,” a prominent leader of Satnami Samaj, associated with the party said.
Baghel and leader of opposition TS Singhdeo admitted that a section of party leaders are opposed to the move. Both the leaders, who were instrumental in getting Verma’s name finalised, said they would take the initiative to convince the irked leaders.
The irked Congress group had been demanding that a candidate from Scheduled Caste or Tribe should be given ticket. Verma belongs to Other Backward Class (OBC) that constitutes about 52% of the state’s population.
Though the BJP leaders are not coming out openly, the decision to drop Sai and nominate another tribal face Netam has come as a surprise. Party’s national general secretary Saroj Pandey was prominent in the fray.
Vimal Chopra, who won the assembly election as an independent candidate after the BJP denied him ticket in 2013 state polls, had purchased nomination papers and was to contest the Rajya Sabha elections. The BJP leaders are, however, making efforts to convince Chopra not to file nomination papers.
