Internal tussle over ticket distribution in BJP

With the approaching of the Lok Sabha elections, every political parties are busy with distribution of tickets to candidates to contest elections. All are facing problems with this task and internal tussle among the candidates to get the choicest seats have come into open. Leaving one party and joining another by politicians is a normal development when elections are at hand. Every political party faces this problem. As far as the internal tussle in the main opposition party the Bhartiya Janata Party over ticket distribution is concerned, it has come into open. The way senior leaders in BJP were sidelined and Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi was projected as PM candidate has made the reality amply clear and gives clear signal that the days of elders in the party are numbered. But they are not prepared to hang their boots up if the tone and tenure of one of the most senior BJP leaders and former party president Murli Manohar Joshi at his press conference about the media speculation that his Varanasi Lok Sabha seat is being given to PM candidate Narendra Modi to make his victory sure and certain is anything to go by, it is clear that he is inclined to fight from Varanasi and not in a mood to leave for any one. Likewise, BJP MP Lalji Tandon from Lucknow has already made it clear that he is not going to leave the seat for party president Rajnath Singh to contest from there. There are reports in media that Rajnath Singh presently representing Ghaziabad is in a mood to contest this time from Lucknow. Undoubtedly, anti-incumbency factor of UPA is going in favour of BJP-led NDA. If the opinion polls and different surveys are anything to go by, BJP is far ahead of UPA in the coming Lok Sabha elections. With Narendra Modi as BJP PM candidate, his forceful and convincing speech and his attack on Congress-led UPA against corruption and price rise have certainly stirred the people to vote for change of the government at the Centre. But as the internal bickering has been the bane of BJP, which has already proved disastrous for the party in 2009 Lok Sabha elections, it appears that this time it is also heading to meet the same fate if the problems of ticket distribution are not sorted out amicably without any loss of time. BJP openly claims that there is Modi wave in the nation. If that is so on the ground, why its PM candidate Modi himself is looking for a safe LS seat. He is the prime ministerial candidate and if onion polls are anything to go by, he is also the first choice for prime ministership. He can contest from anywhere and win to prove his popularity. Whatever Naredra Modi wave is in Uttar Pradesh and Bihar, BJP senior leaders also want to take advantage of it and that is why they are reluctant to leave the seats which are considered party’s bastions. The need of the hour for BJP is to present united face before the people in Lok Sabha elections. Otherwise, all its claims of wave will fizzle out.