New Delhi: The upcoming assembly elections in five states and a long queue of leaders seeking tickets for their relatives in the BJP have added to the party's troubles. The reason for the rhetoric that started against the leaders leaving the party or against the party is also being assumed to be this hue of dynasty politics trying to dominate the political scenario ahead of the elections.
The party has reportedly promised to give tickets to some and has already given them to some others, but in most such cases the party is still in trouble. Ironically, dynasty politics has become the biggest problem for the BJP ahead of the upcoming elections, while it has been basing its entire political campaign against the dynasty politics of its rivals since the beginning of its political journey at the Centre.
Several important leaders from the BJP are demanding tickets for their family members including their sons, daughters or relatives from different states. Recently, leader Swami Prasad Maurya, left the party because the BJP refused to give the ticket to his son. The BJP is facing this issue not only in Uttar Pradesh but also in Uttarakhand, Goa and even in Punjab.
As informed by a reliable source of the party, the second list of Uttar Pradesh was also delayed due to this reason. Apart from Swami Prasad Maurya, who has resigned from the party, Rajasthan Governor Kalraj Mishra is seeking a ticket for his son from the Deoria assembly as informed by the sources. Bihar Governor Fagu Chauhan is also demanding a ticket for his son Ram Vilas Chauhan from the Madhubani assembly seat of Mau. Dara Singh Chauhan, who has left the party on this seat, has been the party's MLA. Union minister Kaushal Kishor also is seeking a party ticket for his son Prabhat Kishor from the Sitapur Sidhauli assembly and wants to field another son from Mohanlalganj in place of his wife.
Father leaves seat for son
At the Centre, Minister SP Baghel is demanding a ticket for his wife from the Tundla assembly seat, while party leader Surya Pratap Shahi is leaving his own seat for his son and seeking a ticket for son from the Patthar Deva constituency. Similarly, former Uttar Pradesh minister Rita Bahuguna Joshi is seeking a ticket for her son Mayank Joshi from the Lucknow Cantt assembly seat. She has even put a proposal in front of the party that she can leave her MP for her son. Moreover, Mukut Bihari Verma, a minister in the Yogi government and MLA from the Kaiserganj seat of Bahraich, is also demanding a ticket for his son Gaurav Verma to eat inside. However, his son is working as an MLA representative already for the party.
Similarly, BJP's Kanpur MP Satyadev Pachauri is also pressurizing the party to give a ticket for his son Anoop Pachauri from Govind Nagar seat of Kanpur. Although Surendra Maithani is already an MLA on this seat, he is not trying to give up his claim. However, before Mathani, Pachauri has also been an MLA from this seat.
In addition to this, Speaker of Uttar Pradesh Assembly and MLA from Bhagwant Nagar seat of Unnao Hriday Narayan Dixit also wants to hand over his political legacy to his son due to his growing age while he has also demanded ticket from the party for his son Dilip Dixit from Purwa seat of Unnao. While BSP's rebel MLA Anil Singh is MLA on this seat and he has now joined BJP, the party has given a ticket to Anil Singh from here.
Uttar Pradesh leads in demands, but other state not far behind
This long list of demands is only for Uttar Pradesh, while there is a lot of pressure on the party for the seats sought for the relatives of leaders of other states as well.
In Goa, Utpal Parrikar, son of Manohar Parrikar, former Chief Minister of Goa and Defense Minister of the country, was denied a ticket from Panjim. Utpal Parikar was demanding the Panjim seat from Goa and now he is also talking of contesting as an independent from the same seat. The party says that the party gave him two other options but he refused to accept them.
Defense Minister Rajnath Singh's elder son Pankaj Singh is MLA from Noida and a ticket is also being sought for his second son Neeraj Singh. Similarly, in the case of Uttarakhand, Harak Singh Rawat, who was suspended from the party for 6 years, had also demanded tickets for his relatives, which was not accepted by the party.
Political analyst Desh Ratan Nigam says that leaders can move, but the voter of the party does not go anywhere. "Surveys show that the voter of the party remains the same. But if someone has qualities and he is coming up working from the bottom, then even the party does not ignore him. I know many such people who were communists and went to BSP and now, they are thinking of going to BJP because they think BJP is the only place where people think that if they work hard they can move forward because of the absence of dynasty politics," he said.
