BJP supporters have been protesting against selecting of candidates in Kulti, Raniganj, Pandaveswar and Durgapur (East) Assembly seats and demanded rescinding their names. Dr Ajoy Poddar, who had lost in the 2016 Assembly polls has been given ticket in Kulti once again.

The BJP supporters alleged he had no connection with the party and the locals since the pandemic outbreak. Amit Gorai, BJP Yuva Morcha prominent leader in Kulti, threatned to contest as an independent candidate if Poddar’s selection is not withdrawn.

It was expected that a veteran trade union leader with vast experience of ECL will get the ticket from Kulti. Local BJP leaders and supporters feel the seat has been gifted to TMC. Similarly in Raniganj, a political greenhorn, Dr Bijan Mukherjee has been given ticket, denying the BJP senior figures who have refused to accept the party’s decision and vociferous outside party office.

The BJP has given tickets in Pandaveswar and Durgapur East Assembly seats to two TMC turncoats-Jitendra Tiwari and Colonel Diptanshu Roy Choudhury. Long-time BJP supporters have locked and vandalised the party office seeking change of these candidates.

Lakhsman Ghorui, BJP district president and candidate of Durgapur West said these issues will be resolved quickly and all will work together. In Pandaveswar, however, four TMC gram panchayat members resigned from the party seeking change of party candidate, Narendranath Chakraborty.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will campaign for the nine BJP candidates of Paschim Bardhaman on 22 April at Polo Ground in Asansol. Most of the candidates of BJP in this district are political greenhorns. In the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, the BJP had lead in all the nine Assembly seats from this district.

Party supporters in Dum Dum, Singur, Chakdha, Balurghat and in other places of South 24 Parganas including Kulpi staged agitation since morning over selection of candidates. BJP state president and MP Dilip Ghosh said the resentment over the choice of the candidate will be resolved within two days.

He said as there is a high chance of BJP winning the election, so large number of people want to contest election including apolitical persons. “The party executives, who are clutching the party flags, fighting against TMC anarchy for a long period of time, were accepted by the party. Party gave tickets to the candidate, who will ensure winning. I am urging all our party workers battle hard to uproot TMC from Bengal,” he said.