BJP leader Subhas Chouhan quits saffron party

Senior BJP leader Subhas Chouhan on Tuesday resigned from the saffron party to register protest against denial of party ticket to him to contest the Lok Sabha polls from Bargarh seat in Odisha.

He was the vice-president of the party's Odisha unit.

Chouhan handed over his resignation letter to another BJP vice-president Samir Mohanty at the party's state headquarters here.

"I have requested him to reconsider the decision," Mohanty said.

The BJP has this time fielded the party's national general secretary Suresh Pujari from the Bargarh Lok Sabha.

Chouhan, a RSS man since three decades, was denied a BJP nomination to contest from Bargarh Lok Sabha seat from where he had polled over 3.72 lakh votes in 2014.

However, he lost to BJDs Prabhas Kumar Singh in 2014 elections by a margin of 11,178 votes.

"This time, they did not allow me to contest from Bargarh Lok Sabha seat and struck off my candidature. Here, the party leadership is not considering the winnability of the candidates and rather giving tickets to people having no mass base," Chouhan told reporters.

Chouhan, a grass-root level leader also cautioned the BJP that it cannot win elections through "high-voltage campaign" or distribution of LPG connections to women members of BPL households under Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana.

"Party workers who remain attached to people will get votes," he said.

Chouhan's resignation from the BJP came a day after another party vice-president Rajkishore Das joined the BJD after quitting the BJP.