Announcing five sitting Members of Parliament as candidates from Haryana, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Saturday announced eight candidates for the state which included two fresh faces in its first list.
As expected, the party has dropped its Karnal MP and media baron Ashwini Chopra who had turned a critic of late and fielded a former Indian Revenue Service officer from Sirsa (Reserved) constituency.
The party has not yet announced candidates from Hisar and Rohtak seats, currently held by opposition INLD and Congress respectively. Haryana has 10 Lok Sabha constituencies.
The BJP has retained its MPs from Gurugram (Rao Inderjit Singh), Faridabad (Krishanpal Gurjar), Ambala (Rattan Lal Kataria), Sonipat (Ramesh Chander Kaushik) and Bhiwani-Mahendergarh (Dharamvir Singh).
It has fielded Haryana minister Naib Singh Saini, who enjoys good rapport with Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar, from Kurukshetra. Its sitting MP from Kurukshetra Raj Kumar Saini had turned rebel and floated his own outfit Loktantra Suraksha Party last year.
The party has fielded its state general secretary Sanjay Bhatia from Karnal.
Former Karnal MP Arvind Sharma, who recently joined the BJP, was a strong contender from the seat. He is said to be miffed with the party after his candidature was ignored.
From Sirsa (SC) seat, currently represented by opposition Indian National Lok Dal, BJP has fielded former IRS officer Suneeta Duggal. She has served as the chairperson of the Haryana Scheduled Castes Finance and Development Corporation. Former IPS officer V Kamaraja had thrown his hat in the ring from Sirsa for a BJP ticket but the party ignored his claims.
The Congress is yet to announce candidates for the May 12 polls.
At least four sitting BJP MPs -- Ashwini Kumar, Dharambir Singh, Rattan Lal Kataria, and Rao Inder Singh -- have spoken against the BJP leadership and the state Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar. But they did not rebel against the party.
The BJP had won seven of the 10 Lok Sabha seats in the 2014 general elections.