A day after some senior BJP leaders in Haryana expressed dissatisfaction for being left out of the party’s initial list of candidates for the Assembly elections, more frustrations emerged on Friday. Former state president and four-time MLA Rambilas Sharma held a meeting with his supporters in Mahendragarh, showing his disappointment at not being included in the first list.
Sharma said, “I have fought for 55 years; no one has the guts to end me.” Although Sharma is one of the BJP’s senior leaders in Haryana, the party did not name a candidate for Mahendragarh in the first list.
Sharma said, “We are the ones who helped the party grow in Haryana. It hurts if anyone tries to disrupt what we built.”
Senior BJP Leaders Resign Over Ticket Disputes
In 2014, when the BJP won a majority and formed its first government in Haryana, Sharma was a leading candidate for Chief Minister. However, the party chose Manohar Lal Khattar instead, who won his first Assembly election from Karnal. In 2019, Sharma lost his seat in Mahendragarh to Congress’s Rao Dan Singh.
Aditya Chautala, the grandson of former PM Devi Lal, was also unhappy with the BJP. On Friday, he stepped down as chairman of a Haryana corporation and resigned from the party because he was not chosen for the Dabwali seat. Aditya, who lost this seat in 2019, is expected to rejoin his old party, the Indian National Lok Dal (INLD), instead of the Jannayak Janta Party led by Dushyant Chautala. The Jannayak Janta Party has already picked Digvijay Chautala, the cousin of the former Deputy CM, as their candidate.
Latika Sharma And G L Sharma Exit BJP
In Kalka, former BJP MLA Latika Sharma was upset with her party for quickly selecting Shakti Rani, the wife of former Union minister Venod Sharma, as a candidate after she joined the party just three days earlier. Latika, who won the Kalka seat in 2014 but lost to a Congress candidate in 2019, was seen crying and giving an emotional speech to her supporters. She said, “I will discuss with my supporters and decide on my next steps.”
In Gurgaon, the BJP experienced more resignations due to ticket issues. BJP leader G L Sharma, who was in charge of Faridabad, resigned on Friday with his supporters after not receiving the Gurgaon ticket. Sources say he is likely to join the Congress.
