Union minister Katheria faces revolt from party cadres

AGRA: Union minister and local MP, Ram Shankar Katheria, faced a virtual revolt on Wednesday from a section of Agra BJP workers, who publicly accused him of being rude and arrogant to party cadres and burnt his effigy to register their protest.
The BJP workers, led by Balkeshwar mandal president, Rajkumar Johri, also threatened to boycott the minister unless he mends his ways.They also threatened to quit the party and join ranks with the likes of former corporator and party vice president Kundanika Sharma's, who recently quit the BJP to join SP. Incidentally, Kundanika too had made similar charges against Katheria.
Talking to TOI Johri said, "We are tired of Katheria’s rude and arrogant behaviour. He does not answer our phone calls and doesn’t help us”, he said adding that he has not fulfilled any of the promises made to the people of the city.
Sudhir Arya, Mandal's vice president, also castigated Katheria and said, "He is not connected with the party workers and seems to have forgotten that it’s the cadres that win the polls not individuals." He said he and others anticipate that the party may take action against them for raising a banner of revolt against the minister but they weren’t worried about it.
When contacted, Purshotam Khandelwal, Braj region president, said the workers who had burnt Katheria’s effigy have indulged in “grave indiscipline and action would be taken against them. “They can consider themselves to be no longer part of the BJP”, he said adding that publicly airing grievances against an elected party representative is unpardonable and if they had something to say, they should have done it at the party forum.
Khandelwal also indicated that this all was being done at the behest of Kundanika Sharma. Though he did not name her, he was candid enough to say that one can deduce why such things were happening only after “someone” has left the party.
However, when contacted, Kundanika disassociated herself for the protests and claimed that a “genuine resentment” against Katheria existed among the BJP cadres.
Incidentally, some Braj party workers had earlier sent an anonymous letter to the state party president, Keshav Prasad Maurya, making similar allegations against Katheria. However, Maurya had refused to comment on the contents of the letter during his visit to Agra.
According to party sources, this isn’t the first time when Katheria is facing such charges. They revealed then Mayor, Anjula Mahor, had also left the party in 2012 due to Katheria's behaviour. However, when contacted, Mahor admitted that Katheria was the reason why she had quit but refused to say anything on the present controversy on the plea that she was now back in the BJP.
Efforts to contact Katheria proved futile.
In a late evening development, about 200 odd BJP workers led by Balkeshwar mandal president, Rajkumar Johri who had earlier in the day staged a protest and burnt the effigy of Union minister, Ramshankar Katheria, quit the BJP to join Samajwadi party.
Talking to TOI, Johri confirmed the move and said that they have joined the SP under the leadership of Kundanika Sharma, who had earlier quit the BJP as its Vice President, Braj region and now is a candidate for Mulayam's party from Agra (North).
Meanwhile, Kundanika claimed more BJP workers would be joining her as they too tired of Katheria's arrogance and rude behaviour.