Intending to field at least 25 to 30 per cent new faces in the Bihar Assembly elections, the BJP is considering dropping some of the sitting MLAs, who had raised the banner of revolt against deputy chief minister Sushil Kumar Modi two years ago. Polling for the 243 Assembly seats in the state would be conducted in six phases, beginning from October 21.
Sensing this, many of these MLAs have started reaching BJP headquarters in New Delhi and seeking appointment with senior Central leaders to ensure that they are given ticket. Speculation is rife within the party’s state unit that most of the these leaders, who had rebelled against Mr Modi, would not be given ticket to prove the point that Mr Modi continues to be among the tallest BJP leaders in the state. Around a dozen Bihar unit leaders had revolted against Mr Modi demanding central leadership to sack him.
Sources said some of these leaders are frantically trying to meet central leadership to make a strong plea for consideration of their name for the coming Assembly polls.
“They had revolted against him but in the end what happened? Sushil ji is still there. Instead of bringing their case before the central leadership, they raised the banner of revolt. By not considering their names, the party wants to give a message that dissidence would not be accepted in the party,” said a senior party functionary.
However, sources said names of senior party leaders who too had revolted are likely to be considered. BJP central election committee is scheduled to meet next week to decide names of its candidates.
It could be mentioned that a section of Bharatiya Janata Party’s Bihar unit had revolted against deputy chief minister Sushil Modi for his way of handling party matters and being “submissive” to state chief minister and JD(U) leader Nitish Kumar.
They had camped in New Delhi demanding central leadership to sack Mr Modi. The central leadership had to go for “secret ballot” to assess the situation.