Two days after Punjab Minister Navjot Singh Sidhu's wife sought to contest from Chandigarh seat in the upcoming Lok Sabha polls, former Union Minister Manish Tewari on Sunday also formally staked claim to the Congress ticket from the same seat.
In a letter to Pradeep Chhabra, president, Chandigarh Territorial Congress Committee (CTCC), Tewari said, “I am interested in contesting the Lok Sabha elections from Chandigarh.”
“I am informed that the Chandigarh Territorial Congress Committee has invited applications from all those desirous of contesting the Lok Sabha elections from Chandigarh Lok Sabha seat in the 2019 general elections," Tewari said
"Kindly consider my candidature at the level of CTCC and the Pradesh Election Committee and also forward it to the AICC/screening Committee/Central Election Committee and the Congress President for appropriate consideration," he added in the letter.
Tewari, a national spokesperson of the Congress, has been a Lok Sabha MP from Ludhiana.
Sidhu's wife and former MLA Navjot Kaur Sidhu had on Friday staked claim to the Congress ticket from Chandigarh, which is currently being represented by BJP MP Kirron Kher.
Notably, former Railway Minister and senior Congress leader Pawan Kumar Bansal is also vying for the ticket from Chandigarh.
Bansal, who had been a four-time MP from the union territory, had exuded confidence that the party high command would repose faith in him and give him the ticket.
“Everybody has the right to apply for a ticket from anywhere. But it is the party high command which finally decides,” Bansal had said in his reaction when Navjot Kaur entered the race as ticket aspirant.