Union defence minister Rajnath Singh’s address to party workers in Jharkhand’s Itkhori on Friday evening saw rumblings of protest within the BJP against the sitting party MP of Chatra parliamentary seat.

BJP party workers were seen raising slogans against the sitting two-term Chatra MP Sunil Singh during the meeting of Rajnath Singh at Itkhori, around 160km from capital Ranchi, in Chatra.

There were slogans like ‘Sunil Singh wapas jao, aisa nikamma MP nahi chahiye’ (Sunil Singh go back, such useless MP is not wanted).

There was also a scuffle between Sunil Singh’s supporters and BJP workers which can be seen in the video released by a local news portal.

Incidentally, the BJP has not announced a candidate for the Chatra constituency. It has so far announced candidates for 11 out of the 14 parliamentary seats of Jharkhand.

Efforts to contact Sunil Singh on his mobile number failed to get any response. However, his supporters alleged it was a conspiracy hatched by opponents of the sitting MP.

“Other people involved in the race for the MP candidate had got this protest organised to tarnish his image before party central leadership,” said one of the supporters on condition of anonymity.

However, BJP state-level leaders admitted that local feedback on the sitting MP is not satisfactory.

“Before announcing tickets to a candidate, the BJP organisation prepares report cards at many levels, including feedback from RSS and feedback taken from the public on party mobile applications. The two-term tenure of the MP is also being scrutinised. Reports of the visit of the party state election committee and ministers have also been taken.

“The delay in announcing the name of Chatra which is one of the safest seats for
the BJP indicates that something is wrong,” admitted a Ranchi-based BJP central committee leader preferring anonymity.

BJP state spokesperson Pratul Sahdeo admitted seeing the protest on news channels but preferred against issuing any comments.

“India will be ‘vishwaguru’ (world leader) under Prime Minister Narendra Modi based on development work undertaken by him and it is God’s wish that he remains PM not only for the third time but for the fourth time also,” Rajnath said at Chatra and repeated his comment also at Ranchi on Friday evening while addressing party
workers.