Hints of tussle for BJP ticket at Parivartan Yatra

Mussoorie, December 4

BJP leaders have started competing with each other for ticket to contest the Assembly elections scheduled early next year. This was visible in the Parivartan Yatra at Thatyur where Rajesh Nautiyal, a senior party leader, was irked at the endorsement of the candidature of the sitting MLA from Dhanaulti even when the party was yet to announce the candidate. He opposed the claim by some leaders at the yatra and said the party was yet to announce the candidate from Dhanaulti. Nautiyal had contested the last Assembly election from Dhanaulti as an independent candidate and lost to BJP candidate Mahaveer Singh Rangad. Nautiyal staked the claim for the Dhanaulti seat and said the party should consider his candidature this time.

Meanwhile, BJP state secretary Sunil Uniyal Gama also demanded the party ticket from Mussoorie. He said the BJP is a democratic party and until it did not announce the names of candidates every worker had the right to stake his claim for any Assembly seat.

He said, “I am a resident of Dalanwala, which falls in the Mussoorie Assembly segment. I have worked at the district and Assembly constituency level and held various party posts. The youth in the party should be given a chance to contest the elections as the nature of voters has changed dramatically and the young voters’ account for more than 30 per cent of the total electorate in the country”. — TNS