New Delhi: Facing dissensions among their senior leadership over ticket distribution, BJP will take up its contentious Lok Sabha seats in Uttar Pradesh at a meeting of its Central Election Committee here on Saturday. BJP is likely to finalise over 100 seats when it takes up seats in crucial states of Bihar, Delhi, Punjab, Haryana, Madhya Pradesh, Karnataka, Odisha, Kerala and Maharashtra.
The party has already declared a total of 203 candidates across the country for the upcoming Lok Sabha polls. There is anxiety among the party’s senior leaders like Murli Manohar Joshi, who is seeking clarity on his Varanasi seat, from where BJP’s prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi is seeking to contest.
In the earlier meeting of the Central Election Committee, Joshi is reported to have questioned the party leadership on the issue and sought to know why media reports were raising speculation on his seat.Though Joshi has said he will abide by the party decision, sources said if Modi is selected for the seat Joshi may be asked to shift to Kanpur, where state party president Kalraj Mishra is keen to contest.
The BJP is also facing dissension for the Lucknow seat, where party leader Lalji Tandon may be asked to vacate to pave the way for BJP president Rajnath Singh, who is keen to contest from there after leaving his Ghaziabad seat.There is also speculation on whether senior BJP leader LK Advani may be asked to shift from Gandhinagar seat to Bhopal to pave the way for Modi.
Meanwhile, the BJP’s much awaited list of Delhi candidates for the Lok Sabha elections is also expected on Saturday, party sources said. The list was to be declared on Thursday. However, party leaders faced difficulty in arriving at a consensus over the many names that have come up for the seven Delhi seats, resulting in the delay, the sources said. These seats are considered prestigious by virtue of being in the national capital, and many want candidature from Delhi, according to sources.
They added that some Delhi BJP leaders are unhappy with the idea of letting “outsiders” fight on party tickets from Delhi. Names of Meenakshi Lekhi, Subramanian Swamy and Nirmala Sitharaman are being considered for New Delhi seat. Veteran journalist MJ Akbar is said to be likely candidate from Northeast Delhi while a former Delhi Development Authority vice chairman is also among the contenders for the New Delhi seat.
Former diplomat Hardeep Puri, who retired as India’s Permanent Representative at the UN and joined the BJP, could be fielded from West Delhi, while South Delhi Municipal Corporation Mayor Sarita Chaudhary and local leader Ramesh Biduri are leading contenders for the South Delhi seat, where the BJP believes it is strong.
Dalit leader Udit Raj is likely to be nominated from the reserved Northwest (SC) and spiritual guru Sri Sri Ravi Shankar’s disciple Maheish Giri from East Delhi. There were more than 20 names in contention for the seven seats in Delhi.
Bureau Report
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