Maneka, Varun swap seats in BJP’s 9th list; Manoj Sinha picked for Ghazipur; Murli Manohar Joshi dropped
Noted film actor of yesteryear and former MP Jaya Prada joined the BJP on Tuesday and will take on Samajwadi Party’s Muslim face Azam Khan in Rampur, while Maneka Gandhi and her son, Varun Gandhi, swapped their seats of Pilibhit and Sultanpur as per the ninth list of the BJP released on Tuesday.
Union Minister Manoj Sinha has been fielded from Ghazipur, Rita Bahuguna from Allahabad, State BJP president Mahendra Nath Pandey from Chandauli, and Jagdambika Pal from Doomariyaganj.
BJP’s ninth list which has 29 candidates from Uttar Pradesh (and 10 from West Bengal) repeats many of the current MPs, including BJP’s Kisan Morcha head Virendra Singh Mast (Ballia), Harish Dwivedi (Basti), Kirtwardhan Singh (Gonda), Pankaj Choudhary (Maharganj), Vijay Dube (Kushinagar), Kamleshwar Paswan (Bansgaon SC), Ravindra Kushwaha (Salempur), Sadhvi Niranjan Jyoti (Fatehpur), Lallu Singh (Faizabad), Daddan Mishra (Shawasti), and Brijbhushan Sharan Singh (Kaiserganj).
The Rampur contest has the potential to be bitter and intense since both Jaya Prada and Azam Khan arch rivals. Jaya Prada had at one time accused Khan of circulating scurrilous video purportedly featuring her in Rampur.
Rampur has the highest concentration of Muslims in entire UP. Muslims are over 50 per cent of the total voters in the constituency. Riding the Modi wave, BJP’s Nepal Singh had won from there in 2014.
A two-term Lok Sabha member from the SP, Jaya Prada is a close associate of Rajya Sabha member Amar Singh, who was expelled from the SP and has since come close to the BJP.
Lauding Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Jaya Prada described him as a “brave” leader in whose hands the country is “safe”.
Noting that she started her political journey with the TDP and was its Rajya Sabha member before joining the SP and being elected to Lok Sabha from Rampur, Jaya Prada told reporters that joining the BJP is a “significant” moment in her life and she would now work dedicatedly for the saffron party.
Maneka has shifted to Sultanpur making way for Varun, his son and sitting MP from Sultanpur, from her current constituency of Pilibhit. Pilibhit is a pocket borough of Maneka from where she has won six times.
The Lok Sabha candidates announced on Tuesday include names of UP Ministers including Pachuri and Bahuguna.