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Just after the declaration of the first list of 131 candidates for the Rajasthan assembly elections, it looks like the list of dissenters in the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is growing with many leaders appearing to be miffed over ticket distribution.
A BJP MLA whose name was dropped from the first list of candidates for the Rajasthan Assembly elections resigned from the party on Tuesday, a day after the resignation of state minister Surendra Goyal.
Nagaur MLA Habibur Rahman said he has mailed his resignation to the party's state president Madan Lal Saini.
A few other sitting BJP MLAs, who also did not make it to the list, expressed dissatisfaction over the party's decision. Ramganj Mandi MLA Chandrakanta Meghwal said she will contest the election as an independent candidate.
"My name was dropped and the party announced some other candidate from my constituency. I have no idea why the party did this to me. I will file nomination as independent candidate from my constituency," she said.
A two-time MLA Sanjana Agri also expressed surprise over being denied a ticket.
"I brought Scheduled Castes' votes to the party's fold in the last 15 years and won the last election with a margin of over 20,000 votes. The decision to drop my name is surprising for me and for the Meghwal community. The community has significant influence in my constituency, but the party gave the ticket to a candidate who has a votebank of just a few hundreds," she said.
The Sojat MLA said she will make all efforts to get a ticket by November 18 and will continue to work for the party even she is denied one.
"I would be serving my party, but the Meghwal community people are unhappy with the decision," she said.
Dungarpur MLA Devendra Katara said he will take a decision by evening, after discussing the matter with party workers.
Earlier on Monday, Surendra Goyal, the public health engineering and ground water minister who represents the Jaitaran constituency, was dropped by the BJP in its first list, following which he resigned from his post and the party on Monday. However, the five-time MLA did not cite any reason for the resignation.
In its first list of 131 candidates released on Sunday night, BJP retained 85 sitting MLAs and dropped 26 MLAs, including two ministers and one of two Muslim MLAs, while there was no change in the constituencies of 85 MLAs who have been retained.
Rajasthan Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje, Speaker Kailash Meghwal, state ministers and senior party leaders have been included in the BJP's first list of 131 out of the total 200 candidates for the December 7 Assembly polls.
Ministers Rajendra Rathore, Gulab Chand Kataria, Vasudev Devnani, Srichand Kriplani, Kiran Maheshwari Anita Bhadel, Ajay Singh, Krishnendra Kaur, Gajendra Singh and Prabhu Lal Saini have made it to the list.
The saffron party has also given tickets to family members of a few sitting MLAs and other leaders.
These include Poonam Kanwar, daughter-in-law of former BJP MLA Devi Singh Bhati (Kolayat seat); Atul Bhansali, relative of Jodhpur MLA Kailash Bhansali (Jodhpur seat); Hemant Meena, son of Tribal Affairs Minister Nandlal Meena (Pratapgarh seat); Ramswaroop Jat, son of former MP Sanwar Lal Jat who died last year (Nasirabad seat); Sailesh Singh, son of former BJP minister Digambar Singh who died last year, among others.
Some of the candidates like Shambhu Singh Khetasar(Sardarpura), Sumit Godara (Lunkaransar), Satish Poonia (Amber), Jaswant Gurjar (Bari), Babu Lal Kharadi (Jhadol) and Khemraj Garasia (Bagidora) had lost the 2013 assembly elections.
The BJP has two sitting Muslim MLAs – Habibur Rahman (Nagaur) and Transport Minister Yoonus Khan (Deedwana). The party has dropped Rahman and the candidate for the Deedwana seat has not been announced yet.
Water Resources Minister Surendra Goyal and Tribal Affairs Minister Nandlal Meena could not make it to the list. However, the party has fielded Meena's son from his constituency.
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has also retained Deputy Speaker Rao Rajendra Singh and chief whip Kalu Lal Gurjar in the first list.
Jaisalmer-Barmer MP Sona Ram was also given ticket from Barmer.
