India News | Chhattisgarh Polls: Supporters of Ex-minister Launch Protest to Replace Jashpur BJP Nominee
Get latest articles and stories on India at LatestLY. Supporters of senior Chhattisgarh BJP leader and former minister Ganesh Ram Bhagat have been staging a protest outside the party's state office in Raipur since Saturday evening to change the party's nominee from the Jashpur assembly constituency.
Raipur, Oct 15 (PTI) Supporters of senior Chhattisgarh BJP leader and former minister Ganesh Ram Bhagat have been staging a protest outside the party's state office in Raipur since Saturday evening to change the party's nominee from the Jashpur assembly constituency.
Jashpur seat, which is currently held by Congress MLA Vinay Kumar Bhagat, will go to polls in the second phase of voting on November 17. The first phase of the poll will be held on November 7 while counting of votes will be done on December 3.
The BJP has fielded Raimuni Bhagat, a woman member of Jashpur Zila Panchayat, from the Jashpur seat (reserved for Scheduled Tribe candidates).
Unhappy over her candidature, BJP workers and supporters of Ganesh Ram Bhagat, a former MLA of five terms, reached Raipur in three buses on Saturday and sat on a protest outside the party's state office Kushabhau Thakre Parisar.
"We are pained that a senior leader like Ganesh Ram Bhagat is being ignored. He has been at the forefront of the movement in the interest of tribals, against religious conversion and cow slaughter in Jashpur in north Chhattisgarh but Raimuni Bhagat has done nothing," a BJP protester from Jashpur, Rakesh Gupta, told PTI on Sunday at the protest site.
Even Urao, Nageshiya and Pahadi Korwa tribal groups have also objected to the candidature of Raimuni Bhagat, he claimed.
Party workers and locals, including women, from Jashpur have come here on their own expense in support of Ganesh Ram ji and demand to replace Raimuni Bhagat. We will continue our protest outside the party office till we do not get positive assurance from the party leadership, Gupta said.
The protestors, around 200 in number, were seen cooking food and having meals outside the BJP office. On Saturday night they slept at the spot.
Senior BJP MLA and former minister Brijmohan Agrawal and the party's state general secretary (organisation) Pawan Sai were seen trying to pacify the protestors but they continued with the demonstration.
When contacted, Ganesh Ram Bhagat said his supporters have been staging the protest on their own and he does not support it.
However, everyone is free to put forth their demand and party leadership should pay heed to them, he added.
(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)