NEW DELHI:The BJP’s attempt to pacify the party’s sitting councillors, who have been denied party tickets for the upcoming MCD polls, has failed to achieve any breakthrough. Highly placed party sources said about 80 such councillors are planning to enter the fray by floating a new party.
The Sunday Standard spoke to several state unit leaders and councillors, who revealed that groups of councillors have met senior leaders, including M Venkaiah Naidu, Nitin Gadkari, Rajnath Singh—all three former BJP presidents—in the last couple of days and apprised them of their concern. The leaders have assured them that their concern would be taken up with the Central leadership.
One group of councilors, which included Mahander Nagpal, Satya Sharma, Parvesh Wahi, Azad Singh, Shailendra Singh Monty, Sandhya Verma and Devendra Solanki met Nitin Gadkari on Wednesday. “One of the senior leaders among us told the minister that the state party unit was not doing justice to the councilors. He asserted that every party worker should have the right to raise the issue. We also made it clear that we were discussing the matter only inside the party forum and the senior leadership should find a solution,” said one of the councillors.
The councillors said they took the initiative of meeting the senior leadership after a meeting with some local parliamentarians. They also met Delhi BJP leaders Dr Harsh Vardhan and Vijay Goel—Union ministers. “We have clearly told the Delhi MPs to remember our role in winning the Lok Sabha polls in 2014. How can they ignore our contribution?” said an east MCD councillor.
Sensing the simmering tension among the sitting councilors, Union minister Nirmala Sitharaman reached the Delhi BJP office late Wednesday evening and held a meeting with some leaders there to ascertain the real situation.
A senior party leader requesting anonymity said, “Most of the councillors have become restless and are holding meetings daily. Their main concern is that the party has treated all of them equally and denied tickets without considering their loyalty and good work. They have said that they don’t have any option but to fight the polls and one of them claimed that a team of 80 councillors will contest together.”
BJP has appointed Sitharaman, along with other Union ministers Sanjiv Ballyan and Jitendra Singh, and party’s vice-president Vinay Sahasrabuddhe, to manage the situation and prepare the strategy for the polls.