The BJP on Sunday evening expelled eight leaders after they opted to contest the upcoming Haryana Assembly elections as independent candidates. Former minister Ranjit Chautala and former MLA Devendra Kadyan are also included in this list. The development comes just days after Haryana Congress took a similar decision for 21 leaders.
After not getting a chance to contest the elections, in recent times many ticket contenders from both the parties have jumped into the electoral fray. Both the BJP and the Congress have since managed to convince some of these ‘rebel’ candidates to withdraw their nominations, while others have been running spirited campaigns in the hope of emerging as independent kingmakers.
Other prominent rebels who could cause trouble for the BJP include Deepak Dagar from Prithla, Jasbir Deswal from Safidon and Kalyan Chauhan from Sohna.
The announcement came hours after senior BJP leaders JP Nadda and Amit Shah led rallies in the northern state on Sunday. The Home Minister has addressed the issue of some rebels contesting elections as independents during several recent rallies and urged voters to vote only for the “lotus” symbol.
Voting is to be held in Haryana on October 5 and the counting of votes will take place a few days later on October 8. In the last election, BJP had emerged as the largest party with 40 seats, while Congress had won 30 seats in the 90-member state assembly.
The opposition Congress is also facing a similar dilemma as nine of its other ‘rebel’ leaders are contesting against the elected candidates in the upcoming elections.
State chief Uday Bhan on Sunday wrote to senior party leaders demanding strict action against the group for indulging in “anti-party activities”. The letter recommends expulsion of Sharda Rathore, Rohita Revdi, Satbir Bhana, Rajkumar Valmiki, Kapoor Narwal, Virendra Gogadia, Harsh Kumar, Lalit Nagar and Satbir Ratera.
(with inputs from agencies)
