J-K polls: BJP state vice-president serves ultimatum over ticket distribution

BJP's Jammu and Kashmir state vice-president Pawan Khajuria has issued an ultimatum to his party to change the candidate from Udhampur east segment within two days ahead of the Jammu & Kashmir Assembly polls.

Khajuria held a meeting with hundreds of his supporters in Udhampur and said the candidature of former MLA R.S. Pathania announced by the party is not acceptable to party workers.

The BJP released its sixth list of 10 candidates including Pathania for the Assembly polls on Sunday, taking the total number of candidates 62. Khajuria, who was hopeful of getting the ticket from the seat, told PTI, "Pathania’s candidature is not acceptable to the ground-level workers. He had indulged in anti-party activity during Lok Sabha elections and the workers have already submitted proof in the form of videos and photographs to the party leadership."

The BJP's troubles over ticket distribution for the Assembly elections is far from over, as there was also a protest by BJP workers in the Marh Assembly segment over the naming of Surinder Bhagat instead of Balbir Lal, who was supported by former minister Choudhary Sukhnandan.

Khajuria said the workers revolted against the party's decision to give a mandate to Pathania, against whom they were waiting for disciplinary action. "We have 157 polling booths and pick up anyone, we will support him but not this person. We worked for decades together in the party but the workers are now feeling that their future is dark," Khajuria, who earlier broke down while addressing the workers, added.

He urged the party leadership to change the mandate, otherwise "the results will never be in our favour from this constituency".

"We will wait till Wednesday and after that, we will meet again. We will take a decision and I will follow the workers even if it means fighting the elections as an independent," he said.

At the meeting, district development council (DDC) member Parikshat Singh announced his resignation from the BJP and extended his support to Khajuria.

The BJP faces a rebellion over the choice of candidates in over half-a-dozen segments across its stronghold of Jammu, where the party had won 25 seats in the 2014 Assembly polls. The angry protesters even staged demonstrations outside the party headquarters soon after the party started issuing the candidates list.

While the leadership managed to cool tempers in a few places, especially Mata Vaishno Devi Assembly segment, nearly a dozen of its leaders, including district president Samba, resigned from the party with two of the rebels joining the electoral battle as independents from Ramban and Paddar-Nagseni constituency.