Supporters of Bharatiya Janata Party MLA Janardan Sharma stormed out of party general secretary Arun Jaitley's press conference in Patna on Friday to protest against the party's decision to deny him a ticket to contest from Paliganj assembly constituency in Bihar.

The incident occurred when Jaitley was announcing that the BJP and Janata Dal-United would jointly launch the campaign in Bihar.

Sharma's supporters barged into the venue shouting slogans against party vice-president and campaign committee chief Sushil Kumar Modi.

They also manhandled state organising secretary Harendra Pratap.

The members were persuaded to leave the venue by state BJP president Gopal Narain Singh who promised that their grievances would be heard.

Jaitley described the incident as "unfortunate" and admitted that such incidents damaged the party's image.

"We are not going to succumb to such pressure," he added.

He said that the state party chief would take disciplinary action against the members.

BJP sources said the party has decided to field Usha Vidyarthy from Paliganj.