Ranchi: The BJP on Monday denied slapping showcause notices on agriculture minister and Sarath MLA Randhir Singh and Gandey MLA Jai Prakash Verma for allegedly badmouthing the party recently, contrary to what a section of the media reported on Sunday.

State unit BJP chief Laxman Gilua told the media they had "not yet" showcaused Singh and Verma. "Both verbally denied speaking against the party but we are carefully examining allegations," Gilua said at the state party office while waiting for BJP national general secretary Anil Jain.

State unit BJP general secretary (organisation) Dharampal Singh also said the showcause proposals had not comebefore him.

On January 10, agriculture minister Singh, who won the Sarath seat as a JVM candidate in 2014 but switched over to the BJP early in 2015, had allegedly told his supporters that there was no need to butter the BJP instead the BJP should be buttering them, and that he was answerable to the masses first and then the party. Audio and video clips of this meeting soon went viral on social media.

Son of late BJP leader Jagdish Prasad Kushwaha, Gandey MLA Jai Prakash Verma, on the other hand, addressing a Kushwaha Samaj meeting on January 6 in Nagwan panchayat in his constituency in Giridih, had allegedly said "the chief minister doesn't listen to his ministers, MLAs and MPs."

"Bureaucracy is ruling the government. No one is happy with the CM. Any one raising voice in the Assembly or outside is crushed. Now we (Kushwahas) will take to the streets," Verma had reportedly said.

BJP national general secretary Anil Jain, who arrived in Ranchi on Monday, will be in Hazaribagh on Tuesday and return to Delhi on Wednesday.