Shillong, Feb 6: One of the aspirants for a BJP ticket, Michael Kharsynthiew on Sunday accused the BJP of “selling party tickets” to candidates while ignoring those who have worked at the grassroots.
Kharsynthiew was an aspirant for the Shillong North constituency, but the BJP allotted the ticket to former Superintendent of Police, M Kharkrang after he joined the party recently.
Kharsynthiew has contested unsuccessfully on a BJP ticket in the last general elections from Umsning constituency, Ri-Bhoi district. After his defeat, he shifted to North Shillong and has been working at the grassroots in preparation for the ensuing elections.
The BJP aspirant said he was denied the ticket as he had raised the matter of cash for party ticket issue internally and even before Nalin Kohli when he was in-charge Meghalaya. Later a disciplinary committee formed by the party found evidence that some of the party functionaries took lakhs of rupees to issue party tickets back in 2018.
Kharsynthiew said party leaders in New Delhi, including Kohli, are fully aware of this report, but the unhealthy trend has continued with tickets being issued in lieu of cash by the BJP.
Stating that he has never gone public with the findings, but now after working for the BJP for years and then being denied a ticket has hurt him. “The candidate who got the party ticket joined the BJP just four months back,” Kharsynthiew lamented.
BJP insiders say Khasynthiew's outburst is somewhat justified. They said Kharsynthiew has worked tirelessly in North Shillong constituency for many months hoping to get a party ticket, but suddenly someone else who joined the party recently got the ticket.
Countering these allegations the BJP said, the party candidates are “selected on the basis of their work, and on the basis of their acceptability among the people.”
Without directly referring to Kharsynthiew’s allegations, the BJP added: “it’s natural for some aspirants who had been denied tickets to feel bad, and sometimes even level unfounded allegations against the party. The BJP is sympathetic towards such sentiments.”
