Hundreds of supporters of candidate Ram Janam Sharma, dropped Saturday night under a seat sharing formula agreed upon by party chief Nitin Gadkari and Thakur, staged protests in front of the party office here.

They threatened to harm the BJP's prospects in the October-November assembly polls.

Sharma was earlier declared the BJP nominee for Bikram constituency in Patna district. After he was replaced, his supporters shouted slogans against Thakur and tried to ransack the party office.

They were protesting against the BJP's decision to replace Sharma by Anil Kumar, considered close to Thakur.

The party also replaced Kundan Singh, nominee from Bachwara assembly seat, with Vandana Singh.

Soon after Vandana Singh's name was cleared, a section of party workers in Bachwara raised slogans against her, party sources said.

Vandana Singh is the daughter-in-law of BJP MP Bhola Singh. Kundan Singh is the son of a powerful contractor.

"We opposed Kundan Singh because he is an outsider. But it was a blunder to nominate the relative of a party MP (in his place)," said Sanjay Singh, a BJP leader.

Thakur withdrew his resignation after a meeting with Gadkari and other party leaders.

BJP sources said that the party was likely to replace three more candidates, including Lallan Kumar from Teghra constituency.

As per Thakur's agreement with the party chief, the Bihar leader's son Vivek Thakur would be made a member of the Bihar legislative council soon, the leader said.

Thakur resigned from the party post Friday after his son was denied a poll ticket.

The BJP is contesting in over 100 constituencies in the sate. Bihar will elect a 243-member house in staggered election that begins Oct 21 and ends Nov 20. The results will be known Nov 24.

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