Buxar/Patna: Following the footsteps of Jaswant Singh, senior BJP leader Lal Muni Choubey Wednesday filed his nomination as an Independent for the Buxar Lok Sabha seat after being denied a ticket, rebuffing pleas by Narendra Modi.
Hardly has the BJP leadership come to terms with Choubey`s parting of ways with the party, another senior leader Chandramohan Rai also resented the manner the tickets were distributed in Bihar, saying he would outline his next course of action tomorrow.
Choubey, who had blasted the party leadership two days ago for "sidelining" seniors like Jaswant and himself, remained unmoved by persuasions of party leaders to mollify him and filed his papers at Buxar after leading a procession of a large number of his supporters.
He later claimed that Modi, the BJP prime ministerial candidate, had called him up last night and requested him not to contest against the party`s official nominee.
After filing his nomination, Choubey told reporters that he represents the "purani (old) BJP" and would ensure defeat of "nai and nakli (new and fake) BJP".
Entry of Choubey in the ring spells trouble for the BJP which has fielded former Bihar minister Ashwani Choubey from the Buxar seat.
Lal Muni Choubey had lost to RJD`s Jagdanand Singh in the 2009 elections by a slender margin of around 2,000 votes. Singh is again a nominee of Lalu Prasad`s party from the seat.
He has represented Buxar four times in the Lok Sabha.
A close associate of former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, he has described BJP president Rajnath Singh as "president of a party of slaves".
The senior leader, who is associated with the Jan Sangh since the early 50s, has also announced that he would campaign against Modi at Varanasi and even in Vadodara in Gujarat.
Rai said he has written a letter to Rajnath Singh on BJP ticket distribution in Bihar.
"I have written a letter to the BJP national president drawing his attention to anomalies in ticket distribution in Bihar," Rai, a former Public Health and Engineering Department minister in the erstwhile NDA-II government, said in Patna.
Expressing displeasure over ticket distribution in Bihar, Rai said he would spell out his course of action tomorrow amid speculation that he had resigned from various posts in the party.
Rai`s future of course of action to be known tomorrow will coincide with Modi`s election meetings in Sasaram and Gaya.
