In a vote of no confidence against its Ministers in Punjab Government, the first list of 17 BJP candidates for February 4 Punjab polls, saw the names of all four Ministers missing.
With elections just a few days away, the saffron party failed to arrive on consensus on the names on six seats, including four belonging to the state Cabinet Ministers.
The party retained five of its sitting MlAs, including two female legislators. Besides, the party also stuck to the seven candidates it fielded during 2012 state assembly polls.
The list has the stamp of state BJP chief and Union Minister Vijay Sampla.
The party has also picked Rajinder Mohan Singh Chhina for the bypoll to Amritsar lok Sabha seat, that fall vacant following the resignation of Congress leader Capt Amarinder Singh.
As the party is likely to drop two ministers — Madan Mohan Mittal and Chunni lal Bhagat — from the list of candidates for being 75-plus, the party has given a chance to five greenhorns, handpicked by Sampla, to try their luck in the crucial 2017 polls.
BJP has set a strict age-limit criteria proposed by the Prime Minister Narendra Modi wherein leaders above 75 years of age should not be give party ticket. The formula was adopted during Maharashtra polls.
Knowing the same, both Mittal and Bhagat have been proposing that their seats — Anandpur Sahib and Jalandhar West — be transferred to their sons.
Sources have informed The Pioneer that former minister and Jalandhar Central MlA Manoranjan Kalia is reluctant to contest fearing strong anti-incumbency against the ruling regime. The party has kept the seat pending, as of now.
To combat the anti-incumbency, a section of senior BJP leaders have recommended fielding new faces, while another section, led by Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, is in favour of giving these leaders another chance.
Considering Sampla’s differences with Phagwara MlA Som Parkash, the BJP’s Central Election Committee has put on hold the decision on his seat. While some of the leaders support Parkash’s candidature, Sampla wanted to field a new face.
Other than that, the seats of four cabinet ministers — Mittal from Anandpur Sahib, Bhagat from Jalandhar West, Anil Joshi from Amritsar North, and Surjit Kumar Jyani from Fazilka — have also been put on one side.
Former Ministers Tikshan Sud and Arunesh Shakir have again been fielded from Hoshiarpur and Mukerian, respectively, after unsuccessfully contesting 2012 polls. Party’s national general secretary Tarun Chugh has once again given ticket from Amritsar Central.
BJP has fielded Sukhpal Singh Nannu from Ferozepur Urban — a seat party’s former state unit chief Kamal Sharma wanted to contest. It has been learnt that Sharma backed out from race in the wake of his not-so-good relations with Sampla. Both Chugh and Nannu had lost 2012 elections.
Besides, the party has once again lay its bet on 2012 losers, including Parveen Bansal from ludhiana North, Rakesh Gill from Amritsar West, and BD Dhupar from Dinanagar.
Among the five MlAs, who will seek their re-election, include Sukhjeet Kaur Shahi from Dasuya, Ashwani Sharma from Pathankot, Punjab Vidhan Sabha’s deputy speaker Dinesh Singh Babbu from Sujanpur, Seema Kumari from Bhoa and KD Bhandari from Jalandhar North.
Entering the electoral field for the first time are Kamal Chetli from ludhiana West, Gurdev Sharma from ludhiana Central, Arun Narang from Abohar, Rajesh Honey from Amritsar East, and Harjit Singh Grewal from Rajpura.
After former MP Navjot Singh Sidhu, Grewal has emerged as party’s Sikh face in the state. Close to Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh (RSS), Grewal had been fielded from Rajpura — represented by party’s deep-rooted leader and former MlA Raj Khurana who died recently of long illness.
After exit of Dr Navjot Kaur Sidhu, the party has fielded a councillor Rajesh Honey. Congress is expected to field Amritsar’s former MP Navjot Singh Sidhu, if not his wife.
Out of the 117 seats in the Punjab Assembly, the BJP will contest 23 while its ally, Shiromani Akali Dal, will fight in the remaining 94 seats. The SAD-BJP alliance is facing anti-incumbency sentiments in the state where Arvind Kejriwal’s Aam Aadmi Party has emerged as a significant player. Punjab will go to polls on February 4.