Former BJP state chief and Borio MLA Tala Marandi on Sunday indicated he wanted to quit the BJP, saying he felt suffocated in the party apparently after he was denied a ticket from Rajmahal seat this Lok Sabha polls.
Expressing his dissatisfaction, Tala told this paper, “This is not the BJP which late Atal Bihari Vajpayeeji had built and nurtured. I am not alone in feeling suffocated. Time will tell what I am going to do in the coming days.”
A BJP insider confided Tala was upset that the party favoured Hemlal Murmu over him for the Rajmahal seat, where JMM’s Vijay Hansda is the sitting MP. It is learnt Tala alleged the party was ignoring old-timers like him to favour newer entrants. Murmu resigned from the JMM in March 2014, before the parliamentary elections, to join the BJP, but had not tasted electoral success in Lok Sabha or Assembly polls yet.
But the BJP source showed no sympathy for Tala. “This is the election month and in the coming days you will see serial criers claiming injustice just because they are not given tickets. But (Tala) Marandi should do some introspection on how he let down the BJP’s trust during his short stint as state BJP president,” the veteran said, referring to how Tala was forced to resign as state BJP chief in two months in August 2016 over accusations of solemnising his son’s marriage with a minor girl and forming a BJP working committee without consulting senior leaders.
Snub for Ranchi MP
State BJP chief Laxman Gilua on Monday expressed displeasure at protests by Ranchi MP Ramtahal Choudhary’s supporters at party headquarters in Harmu on Sunday afternoon and some of the MP’s statements in the light of his not getting the party ticket from Ranchi. “Senior leaders must set an example of discipline. Denial of ticket is not because of any personal reason or his performance as MP. The party has taken a policy decision that leaders of a certain age group will be replaced,” Gilua told the media. Ramtahal, in turn, said he would contest as an Independent.
Ajsu face for Giridih
The Ajsu Party parliamentary board on Monday announced fielding their MLA and state water resources minister C.P. Choudhary from Giridih seat. The BJP left this seat to Ajsu. Giridih votes on May 12.
