The BJP, which released names of 184 candidates for 20 States, going to poll in the first phase of elections on April 11, ‘dropped’ six sitting MPs from Uttar Pradesh, including former Union Minister Kalraj Mishra (Deoria), 78 and ex-Uttarakhand Chief Ministers Bhagat Singh Koshiyari (Nainital) 77, and BC Khanduri, (Pauri Garhwal), 84, although they apparently volunteered not to contest. Khanduri’s son, Manish Khanduri, has incidentally joined the Congress and is expected to contest from the Pauri Garhwal seat from where the BJP has nominated its State Uttarakhand president Tirath Singh Rawat.
Besides these, three veterans, the BJP also dropped two more MPs from UP — Ram Shanker Katheria, former Minister of State for HRD, in Agra where he has been replaced by SPS Baghel, a BJP Minister in the UP Government), and Union Minster of State Krishna Raj in Shahjahanpur where Arun Sagar replaced her.
The BJP has announced nominees for 28 seats of the total 80 Lok Sabha seats from UP and of the six MPs dropped so far in the State four belonged to the reserved seats suggesting the BJP’s attempts to fine tune its political strategy vis-a-vis the Samajwadi Party-Bahujan Samaj Party-Rashtriya Lok Dal alliance that seeks to throw a massive challenge to its 2014 performance when it won a whopping 71 seats.
The turncoats with winnability factor are expectedly being rewarded by the party. The BJP’s first list gives place to two Biju Janata Dal entrants to the party like Jay Panda (Kendrapada) and Balabhadra Majhi (Nabar-angpur) in Odisha. Both are elected MPs.
A third new entrant to the party finding name in the list from Odisha is former IAS officer Aparajita Sarangi (Bhubaneswar) who also jointed the BJP recently.
Another ‘changer’ Sujay Vikhe Patil, who crossed over from the Congress to the BJP this month, has been awarded ticket (Ahmednagar) in Maharashtra.
Home Minister Rajnath Singh has been re-nominated from Lucknow and Textiles Minister Smriti Irani from Amethi (to take on Congress president Rahul Gandhi). Lucknow seat has been with the BJP since 1991 and been represented by Vajpayee five times. Before Rajnath stepped in BJP leader Lalji Tandon held the seat from 20019 to 2014.
Actress and BJP’s sitting MP Hema Malini has been re-nominated from Mathura, West UP, seat and expects a tough fight from the RLD candidate who would have SP-BSP backing. Union Ministers VK Singh (Ghaziabad), Union Minister Satya Pal Singh (Bagpat), Mahesh Sharma (Gautam Budh Nagar) have been given tickets but face a stiff battle ahead with the SP-BSP-RLD combine, besides the anti-incumbency.
The BJP is yet to announce names of party candidates from Pilibhit and Sultanpur which is currently held respectively by Union Minister Maneka Gandhi and her son the sitting MP varun. A switchover of seats is expected in these two constituencies, according to sources.
The BJP announced 21 out of 28 candidates for Karnataka retaining 16 sitting MPs, and with new entrant A Manju from the Congress now getting a BJP ticket from Hassan to take on Prajwal Revanna, grandson of former Prime Minister Deve Gowda. No candidate is yet announced for Bengaluru South, although Tejaswini Ananth Kumar, wife of late Union Minister Ananth Kumar is talked as a potential candidate.
In Tamil Nadu, the BJP’s lone sitting MP, Union Minister Pon Radhakrishnan has been repeated from Kanyakumari and state unit chief Tamilsai Soundarrajan from Thooth-ukudi where she will face off against DMK MP Kanimozhi. BJP is contesting five seats in an alliance with AIADMK.
In Kerala, the party firmed up its alliance with the Bharth Jana Sena Party (BDJS) on Wednesday, giving it five seats, and the Kerala Congress (Thomas) with one seat. The list saw BJP announce 13 out of its 14 seats in contest with Union Minister KJ Alphons to fight from Ernakulam and former Mizoram Governor Kummanam Rajashekharan to fight Shashi Tharoor from Thiruvananthapuram.
In Bengal, a recent defector to the BJP from the Trinamool Congress, Arjun Singh will take on former Union Minister Dinesh Trivedi from Barackpore. The party did not announce any candidate for its sitting seat of Darjeeling held by SS Ahluwalia.
In Odisha where some tickets awarded to defectors from other parties, the party is fielding two of its former MLA candidates, Pratap Sarangi and Brughu Baxipatra from Balasore and Berhampur respectively. Union Minister Jual Oram, party’ only MP to scrape through in 2014, will contest again from Sundergarh.
As will Sangeeta Kumari Singh Deo, who lost he Bolangir seat to her brother in law Kalikesh Singh Deo (BJD’s candidate for 2019 again).
The list from Assam saw three sitting MPs dropped, Bijoya Chakraborty in Gauhati replaced by Queen Ojha, DilipSaikia replacing Ramen Deka in Mangaldoi and Tapan Gogoi replacing Kamakhya Prasad Tassa in Jorhat.
BJP’s trouble-shooter and State Minister Himanta Biswas Sarma was not fielded from Tejpur as BJP chief said his presence was need in all 25 seats of North-East to better BJP’s yield from the region.
The BJP has fielded former Congress leader and MOS for HRD Purandeshwari from Visakhapatnam in Andhra Pradesh.