BJP leaders urge party to field local candidate from Bhopal

Bhopal: For BJP, finalizing candidate for the Bhopal Lok Sabha seat is turning out to be a headache as party local unit is divided over local candidates versus outsiders. Amid the tug-of-war within the party, several leaders on Wednesday urged the party national leadership to field local candidates.
Senior BJP leaders including Bhopal mayor Alok Sharma and sitting member of Parliament, Alok Sanjar gathered at the residence of former chief minister and BJP veteran, Babulal Gaur and made it clear that party workers will not tolerate para-droppers in the Lok Sabha polls.
“All the leaders of Bhopal urged the Prime Minister Narendra Modi to give ticket to local candidate from the state capital. We all would ensure that BJP emerge victorious with a huge margin and strengthen Modi ji’s claim for Prime Minister’s position,” mayor Alok Sharma told reporters after the meeting.
The leaders were joined by former minister Umashankar Gupta, who lost the Bhopal South-West assembly seat to Congress candidate Arif Masood. Gaur's daughter-in-law, Krishna and former MLA Jitendra Daga also supported the demand for a local candidate from Bhopal. Daga also cautioned that if the party leadership choose an outsider for Bhopal the party workers would turn rebellious.
“The party will make a clean sweep and facilitate Modi ji to be Prime Minister again,” said Gaur.
The BJP veteran who raised the demand for a local candidate two days before also said that Congress was trying to make a dent in the BJP cadre ahead of elections by luring them for tickets. “I am ready to contest from Bhopal and win the seat for the party. I have also challenged former chief minister Digvijaya Singh whose name has been proposed by the Congress workers to contest from Bhopal,” said Gaur.
After the meeting at Gaur's residence, BJP leaders Rakesh Singh and Suhas Bhagat met former chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan at his residence to discuss the crisis management on workers' demand.
The BJP is facing intense lobbying for the Lok Sabha ticket in more than 15 seats. The party state election committee meeting held on Tuesday also discussed feedback report of some sitting MPs and suggested changes in the names on 15 seats. The Central Election Committee (CEC) of BJP is likely to discuss the ticket distribution during its meeting on March 22, said BJP leaders.