A day after the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) announced its first list of 67 candidates for the Haryana Assembly polls, the party faced rebellion with many leaders including Minister, MLAs, and former MLAs and senior party workers announcing their resignation from the party and threatening to contest election as Independent candidates. The rebel trouble for BJP started shortly after it came out with the first list of candidates as it left many sulking.

 BJP has denied tickets to three Ministers and 13 MLAs and around a dozen former MLAs and senior party workers who were eyeing tickets. Prominent among them are State Power Minister Ranjeet Singh Chautala, former Sports Minister Sandeep Singh, former Minister Kavita Jain and State Sports Minister Sanjay Singh. Ratia MLA Laxman Dass Napa, OBC Morcha chief Kamboj among dozen leaders quit the party.

Ranjit Chautala resigned from the Cabinet on Thursday. Chautala had lost the Lok Sabha poll from Hisar on a BJP ticket. He was also aspiring for a BJP ticket from Rania (Sirsa) which he had won in 2019 as an independent but recently joined the BJP. The party opted for Shishpal Kamboj, who is Sirsa district president of the BJP. Chautala, the brother of former Haryana Chief Minister Om Prakash Chautala, was among the nine incumbent MLAs excluded from the BJP's first list.

Sources said that what irked the BJP ticket hopefuls is the nomination of at least 10 party hoppers, including three former JJP MLAs, son of a former Minister and Shakti Rani Sharma, wife of former Union Minister Venod Sharma. They joined the BJP only recently.

Former Haryana Minister Kavita Jain burst into tears on Thursday and she gave the party high command an ultimatum to change party candidate Nikhil Madan from Sonepat within three days. Nikhil, was earlier an associate of Rohtak MP Deepender Singh Hooda and he shifted to the BJP from the Congress a few months ago. He is the Sonepat mayor at present. Kavita Jain had won the 2014 assembly elections from Sonepat and lost the 2019 election from Congress’s Surender Panwar. This time, the BJP dropped her.  Addressing her workers, she said that if the BJP doesn’t change its Sonepat candidate by September 8 then she will decide her next course of action.

Former Minister Bachan Singh Arya is also miffed at former JJP MLA from Narnaund Ram Kumar Gautam getting party ticket from Safidon. He is exploring the option of contesting as an Independent.

Alleging that the BJP had strayed from its basic ideology propounded by Deen Dayal Upadhaya and Shyama Prasad Mookerjee, BJP OBC Morcha chief Karan Dev Kamboj, in his resignation letter, alleged that the saffron party was rewarding the traitors who damaged the party over the years. "While committed workers like me are being sidelined, party hoppers, joining the party on the eve of the assembly polls are being rewarded with tickets," Kamboj said keeping his option of contesting polls independently open.

Denied ticket, BJP legislator from Ratia reserve assembly constituency Lakshman Dass Napa has quit the party.  Napa, in a letter to state party chief Mohan Lal Badoli, said that he was quitting the party and resigning from its primary membership. From Ratia, the party has fielded former Sirsa MP Sunita Duggal.

Another minister, Vishambhar Balmili, who was a two-time MLA from Bawani Khera in Bhiwani, was also dropped by the party and a new face, Kapoor Balmiki, was given the ticket.

Disappointed, supporters of former minister Savitri Jindal, who is the mother of Kurukshetra BJP MP Naveen Jindal, met her at her house in Hisar and urged her to contest as an Independent after the BJP retained health minister Kamal Gupta as its candidate. Savitri and her son Naveen had joined the BJP in the run-up to the Lok Sabha elections. She was seeking the BJP ticket from Hisar but the party did not consider her.

The shifting of sitting Kosli MLA Laxman Singh Yadav to the Rewari Assembly constituency has triggered a revolt among local BJP leaders who were vying for the party ticket from Rewari. Satish Khola, former BJP district president and former state coordinator of the Parivar Pehchan Patra (PPP) programme of the state government, and youth leader Prashant Sunny Yadav, opposed the candidature of Laxman Yadav and announced to contest the Assembly poll from Rewari.

In Meham, several local leaders of the BJP have resigned from the party in protest against the allotment of party ticket to kabaddi player Deepak Hooda, who is a recent entrant to the party. A local leader Shamsher Kharkara, who had contested the 2014 and 2019 Assembly elections from Meham on BJP ticket, has announced to call a meeting of his workers and supporters on September 7, following which he would announce his decision.

Former Haryana Minister Krishan Murti Hooda has also called a meeting of his workers after the BJP pitched Zila Parishad chairman Manju Hooda, wife of zila parishad chairman Rajesh Sarkari from Garhi-Sampla-Kiloi against former Haryana CM Bhupinder Singh Hooda. Krishan Murti will also take a call on whether to stay or leave the party.

In Jind’s Safidon, former MLA Bachan Singh Arya also resigned from the BJP after JJP rebel Ram Kumar Gautam was fielded. Arya will contest as an Independent. JJP rebel Gautam had joined the BJP at a rally in Jind recently.

Sources in BJP said that there is immense resentment and anger among leaders and workers of the party over the unfair distribution of tickets. This has prompted the party to launch a damage control exercise, deploying several top leaders to defuse the situation.  A BJP leader said that there appeared to be “no proper planning” going by the way the leadership handled the situation. The party could have spoken to senior MLAs a few months ago in advance instead of at the last minute. Most of them had toiled in their segments, certain they would get a ticket.

Another senior BJP leader claimed that initial dissidence will die down by the time nominations end. “There will always be a fight for tickets in a party like BJP which will definitely form the Government. In BJP, organization, cadres, people and their aspirations are more important than candidates. There may be some loss of votes, but our official candidates will win,” he added.

Political Observers opined that at a time when BJP was trying to beat anti-incumbency in its bid to secure a third consecutive time in the State, chaos erupted within the party following the release of its first list. The growing rebellion in BJP is threatening to hurt its poll prospects in many constituencies where it is already battling strong anti-incumbency. Many are also upset because the party has accommodated almost all MLAs who switched recently from Congress, JJP and INLD at the cost of ‘old guard’. BJP had burnt its figures in Himachal Pradesh, where rebels contested 21 of a total 68 seats in the last Assembly election. While it is not uncommon for aspirants to sulk and protest when denied a ticket, it is probably the first time in the State BJP is facing such a large–scale revolt in the State. Some rebels are openly expressing their angst against the party leadership. The party leadership should reach out to their leaders to defuse the situation, Observers added.

BJP's nominees represent all castes, classes & communities:  Election co-in charge  Biblab Deb

Talking to reporters in Rohtak, BJP's Assembly election co-in charge Biblab Deb on Thursday said that the saffron party had announced 67 of 90 candidates in one go, which indicates the strong leadership and organisation of the party. Deb maintained that the party's nominees represent all castes, classes and communities of the state, hence striking a social balance. He pointed out that 14 of the 67 candidates announced by the BJP come from the backward classes, while due representation had also been given to the Dalits, Brahmins, Punjabis, Jats, Rajputs and Sikhs. "Several sitting MLAs, including three ministers, have also been replaced in view of the socio-political equations," he maintained. Replying to a query, Deb said the Congress leadership had lost the right to speak on dynasty politics.

He asserted that the BJP has a democratic system and accords due regard to its workers, while only a father-son duo calls the shots in the Congress. BJP State President Mohan Lal Badoli, took a jibe at the Congress, stating that it had not been able to release its list of candidates. He said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union Home Minister Amit Shah, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh and the party's national president JP Nadda would tour the state soon.