Patna, March 11: The “new entrants” and “outsiders” have left state BJP leaders fuming for not getting the most-wanted Lok Sabha tickets.

At the state election committee meeting attended by former deputy chief minister Sushil Kumar Modi, Nand Kishore Yadav, state president Mangal Pandey and others today, some leaders expressed their displeasure over giving tickets to new entrants joining the party from others.

A BJP leader, who attended the meeting but did not wish to be named, said: “Some members raised the issue about promising seats to new entrants and ignoring party cadres and MLAs as after seat-sharing formula with the LJP and RLSP and retaining sitting MPs only a few seats would be left for BJP cadres.”

Sources said leaders such as Chandramohan Rai, Giriraj Singh, Ashwini Kumar Choubey raised the issue about distribution of Lok Sabha tickets to workers who have served the party for long and also to some MLAs having the potential to win the parliamentary elections.

The MLAs said Sushil had stressed of not giving tickets to MLAs to which the state BJP in-charge Dharmendra Pradhan told them that there is no such restriction on sitting legislators.

The BJP central parliamentary board would decide the final list of candidates. Pradhan said: “The first list of BJP candidates would be announced on March 13 after having discussion with state election committees.”

The party has received a list of two to 10 probable candidates from each constituency. Sources said there was resentment for some seats such as Valmikinagar, Ara, Sasaram, and Pataliputra Lok Sabha seats. Former Union home secretary R.K. Singh who turned down the offer to be adviser to chief minister Nitish Kumar and joined the BJP instead is likely to be a candidate from Ara. New BJP ally LJP had sought Ara but the BJP did not cede to it.

Some leaders also proposed Narendra Modi’s name for Patna Sahib, Darbhanga and Bhagalpur, and Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi for Kishanganj.

Similarly, at Valmikinagar, there are many hopefuls, including MLA Rai, Independent MLA Dilip Verma and former petroleum secretary R.S. Pandey.

For Chhedi Paswan and Ram Kripal Yadav, who would join the BJP tomorrow in all probability, the party would have to offer Sasaram and Pataliputra, respectively. Chhedi came from the JD(U) only on the condition of contesting the election from Sasaram.