Dissensions within the BJP came out in the open as the party faced public protests at some places over the selection of candidates, including that of former Army Chief Gen (retd) V K Singh in Ghaziabad and Kirron Kher from Chandigarh.
The BJP headquarters in the capital faced protests from supporters of some candidates who have not been given the party tickets, raising slogans against senior party leaders.
While a group of party workers lodged their protest against the candidature of former Army Chief Gen (retd) V K Singh from Ghaziabad and termed him as outsider, supporters of Pradeep Sangwan from Sonepat raised objections against party's official candidate Ramesh Kaushik.
In fact, even before the party went public with Singh's name from Ghaziabad, a seat represented by party chief Rajnath Singh earlier, a number of BJP workers came out on the streets of Ghaziabad to oppose his nomination. Yesterday too, he faced angry partymen in Ghaziabad, who raised slogans against him and a heated exchange of words broke out between supporters of the former Army chief and his rivals.
Supporters of a candidate from Amroha also landed up outside the BJP headquarters and lodged a protest against the party leadership.
BJP Spokesperson Prakash Javadekar said such protests are a "temporary reaction" and all partymen will be "on board" and will campaign for the party's official candidates.
The Uttar Pradesh BJP is facing a revolt within the party as its leaders are coming out openly to express their annoyance against the party's decision to deny them tickets.
