As many as four Ministers in the Modi Cabinet are likely to contest impending general elections in May this year. If sources in the saffron brigade are to be believed, the names of the Ministers and their constituencies would be declared after Holi, along with the NDA’s prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi.
During the three-day long Gujarat BJP’s parliamentary board meeting at the Gujarat Chief Minister’s residence, names of four senior ministers including Agriculture Minister Babubhai Bokhiria from Porbander constituency, Forest Minister Ganapat Vasava from tribal dominated Bardoli constituency in South Gujarat, Energy & Petrochemicals Minister Saurabh Patel from Vadodara constituency and Finance Minister Nitin Patel, were a decided as contenders.
According to the sources, opinions of the local leaders of the respective constituencies as well as sitting MPs were also discussed. “Final decision would be taken by the Central parliamentary board in consultation with the prime ministerial candidate,” said a senior party leader requesting anonymity. Apart from these four ministers, discussion on strong candidates on eight Saurashtra & Kutch region seats also took place. Of the 19 sitting MPs in Gujarat, there are chances that hardly seven to eight would be repeated, as win-ability is the only criteria to finalise the candidate, said the sources adding that the BJP desperately wants to win all 26 seats from Gujarat to achieve the target of 272 plus seat in the general elections.
“It would be quite possible that Narendra Modi could contest from Uttar Pradesh as well as from one of the constituencies in Gujarat. There is nothing wrong in it, even Atal Bhihari Vajpayee too contested elections from two constituencies — lucknow and Gandhinagar — in 1998, which were considered as safest seats then,” said the party sources.
In fact, one of the factors for the selection of the candidates in Gujarat is the list of Congress candidates. Though sitting BJP MP, Vithal Radadia from Porbander is considered strong, but Congress has declared Kandhal Jadeja, son of Godmother — Santokben Jadeja — who belongs to Maher community. Now, Radadia himself wants to change his constituency to either Rajkot or Surat. In that case, Bokhiria is considered better candidate. “By the time BJP would declare its list for Gujarat candidates, it is anticipated that the Congress would declare remaining 16 candidates in the State,” said the sources.
Gujarat list to be declared by Mar 19
Following the Central election committee meeting, the BJP is set to declare much awaited list of candidates of 26 Gujarat lok Sabha constituencies on Wednesday, March 19. Sources in the Gujarat BJP confirmed that clarity pertaining to second constituency of Narendra Modi as well as former deputy PM lK Advani would also be clarified on the same day. Already the party has declared Modi’s name from Varanasi in Uttar Pradesh.