Braving all criticism about giving tickets to turncoats the Bharatiya Janata Party announced candidature of 15 more candidates giving tickets to five party hoppers including Jagdambika Pal and Brij Bhushan Saran Singh – both sitting MPs of Congress and Samajwadi Party respectively.
Jagdambika Pal had joined the party on Wednesday morning. Pal, who is sitting MP from Dumariaganj, has resigned from Congress. His candidature was in the air and BJP workers have been opposing his nomination on party ticket. They even burnt his effigy at party headquarters.
Brijbhushan Saran Singh, the sitting MP from Kaiserganj, had refused Samajwadi Party ticket. His son joined BJP in Narendra Modi’s Bahraich rally while he joined the party on March 2 in lucknow when party’s prime ministerial candidate addressed last of the series of Vijay Shankhnad rally.
Another turncoat Kirti Vardhan Singh, whose father Anand Singh who was Agriculture minister in Akhilesh Yadav, was given ticket from Gonda. Anand Singh was sacked from the ministry after his son joined BJP.
The party was able to silence critics in Allahabad when it gave ticket to former MP Shyama Chanran Gupta who resigned from SP to join BJP. There was tussle between Kesari Nath Tripathi and Nand Gopal Nandi who has joined BJP after he and his wife Abhilasha were sacked from BSP for anti-party activities. Party activists were staging protest in favour and against of Nandi.
The icing of this ticket distribution was cine star Hema Malini’s candidature from Mathura – the seat held by RlD’s top leader Jayant Chaudhry. Hema’s presence will not only add glamour to the election campaign but also give a fighting space for the BJP and it can even come out triumph.
The party also gave tickets to former legislators like Devendra Singh Bhole (Akbarpur), Krishna Raj (Shahajahanpur) and Rajesh pandey (Kushinagar). Former MP Manoj Sinha gets ticket from Ghazipur.
The complete list of candidates is Satyapa Saini (Sambhal), Hema Malini (Mathura), Chaudhry Babu lal (Fatehpur Sikri), Krishna Raj (Shahajahanpur), Rekha Verma (Dharauhra), Devendra Singh Bhole (Akbarpur), Bhanu Verma (Jalaun), Pushpendra Singh Chandel (Hamirpur), Shyama Charan Gupta (Allahabad), Hari Om Pandey (Ambedkar Nagar), Brij Bhusahna Saran Singh (Kaiserganj), Kirtivardhan Singh (Gonda), Jagdambika Pal (Dumariaganj), Rajesh Pandey (Kushi Nagar) and Manoj Sinha (Ghazipur).