Dehra Dun: A day after Congress expelled 11
leaders on the charge of anti-party activities, BJP is
expected to follow suit.
"We are identifying more rebels and also all those party
leaders who are working against the interests of the BJP in
the state. Like Congress, we will follow hot pursuit policy
against them," said Satish Lakhera, a BJP spokesman.
Congress has so far expelled as many as 32 rebellious
leaders which include Jot Singh Bist and Mantri Prasad
Naithani, who are the prominent faces in the state.
"All these 32 leaders are contesting elections as rebel
candidates from different seats in the state," said Surendra
Kumar, a state Congress spokesman.
After failing to stem the revolt, both the ruling BJP and
Congress in Uttarakhand have started the process of expelling
rebellious leaders.
The two parties have had their share of post-ticket
distribution revolts in over 20-22 each out of the total 70
constituencies.
The BJP has so far expelled nearly 22 leaders, including
four sitting MLAs Kedar Singh Fonia, Raj Kumar, G L Shah and
Anil Nautiyal.
The ruling party, which fielded nearly 36 new faces,
created a political storm by axing nearly 12 of the total 36
sitting MLAs from the poll race in the face of the
anti-incumbency.
These also include two cabinet ministers ? Khajan Das and
Govind Singh Bist, who appeared to have now fallen in line
after showing discontent.
The saffron party is also facing severe crisis in Chamoli
district where all the three seats are being contested by
rebel candidates.
From Badrinath, former minister Fonia is fighting
election as a rebel candidate.
Similarly, on other two seats ? Tharali and Karanprayag,
party rebels G L Shah and Anil Nautiyal, both loyalists of
Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank, have created a problem for the
ruling party.
On the other hand, Congress did not deny tickets to any
of its sitting MLAs to avoid any rebellion and yet facing
severe rebellion.
Congress which is divided in three major camps belonging
to its leaders like Harish Rawat, Vijay Bahuguna and Satpal
Maharaj, has denied tickets to many of their loyalists, who in
turn are playing spoilsport in other camps.
For example, Jot Singh Bist, a Harish Rawat loyalist, is
fighting independently against Manmohan Mall, who is a staunch
supporter of Bahuguna.
Former minister Mantri Prasad Naithani, a Maharaj
loyalist, is contesting from Devprayag against official
candidate Shurvir Sajwan.
Former tourism minister T P S Rawat, who quit BJP last
year to float Uttarakhand Raksha Morcha, has already fielded
some of the disgruntled leaders from both BJP and Congress.
PTI
