The Hindu : Front Page : BJP to finalise 150 candidates for Lok Sabha by August-end

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Tuesday, Jun 24, 2008
ePaper | Mobile/PDA Version

Front Page

Front Page

BJP to finalise 150 candidates for Lok Sabha by August-end

Special Correspondent

Senior party leaders make known their choice of constituencies

Murli Manohar Joshi may abandon Allahabad seat for Varanasi
Maneka Gandhi may opt for Aonla and leave Pilibhit for son Varun

NEW DELHI: The Bharatiya Janata Party hopes to steal an early march over its political rivals by starting next month the process of finalising candidates for the Lok Sabha election.

It does not want to be taken by surprise given the current political uncertainties resulting from the ongoing war of words between the Congress and its supporting parties in the Left of the political spectrum.

A senior party leader associated with the management of elections has indicated that a meeting of the BJP’s Central Election Committee would be called in late June or early July — ahead of the start of the monsoon session of Parliament —and by the end of August, candidates for roughly 150 seats would be finalised.

The view in the party is that by declaring its prime ministerial candidate well ahead of time, it would be able to get an additional advantage if it were to finalise its “faces” for specific constituencies. The prospective candidates would also get additional time to woo the voters.

Keeping a close watch on the Congress camp, a senior party leader said the BJP had concluded that the Congress would not name its prime ministerial candidate, and that would be advantageous for the BJP.

Some senior party leaders have already indicated their preferences keeping in mind the changes in the geographical and social spread of constituencies following delimitation.

It seems that party president Rajnath Singh may contest the election, although currently he is a meber of the Rajya Sabha.

Party leaders have hinted that Mr. Singh may opt for Ghaziabad, which, after delimitation, has become a more urban seat than it used to be.

While the Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha, L.K. Advani, is expected to contest from his own constituency Gandhinagar, party veteran Murli Manohar Joshi is likely to abandon Allahabad for Varanasi and the former Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister, Kalyan Singh, could move from Bulandshahr to Eta.

It seems that Maneka Gandhi has signalled to the party leadership that she would like to contest from Aonla, leaving her own constituency Pilibhit for her son Varun Gandhi. Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi, one of the few Muslim faces the BJP has, could get to contest from Rampur.

As for Lucknow, no one in the party was willing to say anything for it was not hundred per cent certain that the former Prime Minister, Atal Bihari Vajpayee, will not contest again. “There is no word from him as yet,” said a senior leader

Printer friendly page
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Front Page