Supporters of senior BJP leader Gyan Singh, the sitting MP from Shahdol, protested the party's decision to drop him and give the ticket for the April May Lok Sabha polls to Himadri Singh.
A huge number of Gyan Singh supporters assembled at the Ramlila Maidan here on Sunday demanding that the BJP reverse its decision.
"A person who has served the party since 1977 is being denied a ticket while someone who joined the party just a few days ago is being nominated. If the party does not change its decision, then Gyan Singh will contest from Shahdol as an Independent and defeat Himadri Singh," said protesting BJP worker Krishna Pal Singh.
Another worker, Ravi Vishwakarma, called Himadri Singh a "parachute" candidate.
Himadri Singh is the daughter of late Congress leader Dalbir Singh.
Both her father and mother Rajesh Nandini Singh were former Congress MPs from Shahdol.
Incidentally, Gyan Singh had defeated Himadri Singh from Shahdol (ST) by a margin of 16,000 votes in a bypoll in 2016.
The 2016 bypoll was necessitated by the death of sitting MP Dalpat Singh Paraste.
BJP sources said she got the ticket for the forthcoming Lok Sabha polls after she joined the party post her marriage to BJP leader Narendra Maravi.
Gyan Singh won the Lok Sabha polls from Shahdol in 1996, 1998 and and in the 2016 bypoll.
He was first elected as MLA in 1980 and served as minister in the BJP governments headed by Sunderlal Patwa, Uma Bharti and Shivraj Singh Chouhan.
The party has asked Chouhan to pacify Gyan Singh, BJP sources said.
State BJP spokesperson Rajnish Agarwal said, "The BJP has officially declared Himadri as the party candidate and we are discussing the issue with Gyan Singh and others. We are hopeful of a positive outcome soon.
(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)