Virendra Kumar vapis faces revolt in Tikamgarh

Bhopal: Union minister of state for woman and child welfare Virendra Kumar is facing dissent in his Tikamgarh constituency with party leaders urging the BJP leadership to deny him ticket for the Lok Sabha polls.
Two days back, KK Shrivastava, former MLA of Tikamgarh, convened a meeting at his farmhouse in which former minister Lalita Yadav (Chattarpur), Pushpendra Pathak (former MLA of Bijawar), RD Prajapati (former MLA of Chandla) and sitting MLA from Jatara Harishankar Khatik took part.They claimed that in the last five years, Virendra has done nothing for his constituency and there is an anger against him among the people. “It was also reflected in the Vidhan Sabha elections”, they alleged.
They said that Virendra was a “parachute” candidate and did not belong to Tikamgarh and a local candidate should be given ticket in LS polls. Talking to TOI, Pushpendra Pathak said, “Virendra is surrounded by a coterie and doesn’t believe in the party organisation. The party has suffered a lot because of his lackadaisical approach as many BJP candidates were defeated in the assembly polls.”
Lalita Yadav, another former MLA, said: “Virendra Kumar is an unpopular person and will lose the polls.”
After holding the farm-house meeting, the party leaders submitted a memorandum to former chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan the same day when he was in Tikamgarh for a party meeting. While BJP leaders were paying tributes to Manohar Parrikar, party workers were heard shouting slogans like “Virendra Kumar vapis jao” and “Virendra Kumar murdabad”
After repeated calls, the MP was not available for comments, but his representative Anurag Varma denied all the allegations and said Virendra has been always available for the people of his constituency. “ He is a very popular leader”, he said.
The protest in Tikamgarh seems to have its resonance in Bhopal on March 19 when the party leadership found it hard to recommend his name for the Tikamgarh seat. In the meeting of the state election committee, some more names were sent for Tikamgarh, BJP sources said.
The reserved Tikamgarh Lok Sabha seat is spread over 8 assembly segments of Chhatarpur, Niwadi and Tikamgarh districts.
In Vidhan Sabha elections, 4 seats each were won by Congress and the BJP. In 2013 polls, three assembly segments had Congress MLAs while five were represented by the BJP.