UP elections: In Faizabad, MP Lallu Singh and party unit chief Awadhesh Pandey were tied with ropes
Highlights
- 2 BJP leaders not selected as candidates lay down on road
- Blocked the car of state chief KP Maurya
- Remained in protest for an hour
The BJP has been dealing with some backlash over its selection of candidates for the Uttar Pradesh election. The party has so far named 371 candidates for the state's 403 seats, and recent days have seen those left out registering their protests by jeering slogans at party president Amit Shah's home in Delhi.
But perhaps in pursuit of a viral moment, two aspirants in Lucknow today took the "over my dead body" route, lying down in the path of the car of Keshav Prasad Maurya, who heads the BJP in Uttar Pradesh. Sunder Lal Dixit and Rambabu Dwivedi chose to make their point horizontally near their party office, peering up at cameras from the road. Neither won the last election from their constituencies in the region of Barabanki.
BJP sources say it took over an hour to persuade both leaders to vacate the road.
BJP's Sunder Lal Dixit, Rambabu Dwivedi lied down on the road close to the party office
The BJP has been trying to balance tickets between long-time members and those who've recently defected from other parties.
Uttar Pradesh votes on seven days starting February 11. Results will be declared along with other states like Punjab on March 11.
Yesterday, at the BJP district office in Faizabad, workers, upset with the ticket being given to an "outsider" for the Ayodhya seat, tied up local MP Lallu Singh and party unit chief Awadhesh Pandey with ropes. They were held hostage for about two hours.
The BJP has chosen Ved Gupta as its candidate - he recently joined the party from the BSP. Mr Gupta, who allegedly played a key role in the demolition of the Babri Masjid in Ayodhya in 1992, has been with the Congress, the BJP, the Samajwadi Party and Mayawati's BSP.
With inputs from agencies