Senior Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader and former MP Phool Chand Verma has questioned the way tickets were being distributed by the party in Madhya Pradesh for the ensuing lok Sabha elections.
"I would like to know the basis on which tickets for the lok Sabha polls were being distributed by the party," he asked in a letter sent to BJP president Rajnath Singh. He said committed party workers were being harassed and sidelined by certain sections in the BJP and attempts were also being made to end their political career.
The five-time MP from Shajapur-Dewas questioned the distribution of party tickets to certain candidates in the State at the expense of deserving ones. The former MP said he cannot understand the message that is being sent out when State BJP president Narendra Singh Tomar is unable to contest from Morena, from where he won in 2009.
Verma was miffed the way some party leaders have been made Ministers in the State’s BJP Government. His son, MlA Rajendra Verma, agrees with the issues raised by his father. Rajendra Verma said that the questions raised by his father were correct and he supported his father’s views. Rajendra Verma is serving his second term in the Assembly.
Phool Chand Verma, in his letter to the party chief, has made comments against former chief ministers Kailash Joshi and Sunderlal Patwa and the State president. According to sources, Verma is showing his dissatisfaction as he was keen on contesting lok Sabha elections from Dewas but did not get the ticket.
Rajendra Verma in the recently held Assembly elections defeated the nephew of Congress MP Sajjan Singh Verma and Verma’s discontent may benefit Sajjan Singh. A senior BJP leader maintains that Verma may be right but the timing of his expression of views was wrong.
Meanwhile, Verma said his father had received phone calls from Rajnath Singh, Ramlal and Narendra Tomar and they have asked him to discuss the issue with them.