Indecision in BJP delays tickets in Delhi, Punjab, Chandigarh

by Harish Gupta, National Editor, Lokmat Group

Indecision in BJP delays tickets in Delhi, Punjab, Chandigarh

Sitting MP s on Chopping Block 

Harish Gupta

New Delhi, April 7

The BJP leadership is in a serious dilemma as to what it should do in Delhi, Punjab, Chandigarh and remaining two seats in Haryana. In all, the BJP has announced 406 candidates for the Lok Sabha polls and announcement for the 31 seats has been withheld. This include all the seven LS seats in Delhi, three out of 13 in Punjab, lone seat in Chandigarh and two in Haryana.

The leadership wants to do a major surgery in Delhi as there is huge anti-incumbency against some of the seven sitting M Ps.

Sources in the party say that at least three sitting Lok Sabha MP s may be shown the door including Meenakshi Lekhi, Lok Sabha MP from New Delhi, Udit Raj from North West and and Mahesh Giri from East Delhi. Gautam Gambhir is set to get the nomination from New Delhi after he made his maiden entry in the party a few days ago. Udit Raj has been voicing his concerns against some of the policies of the party. Though he was brought with big fan fare. But his performance in the constituency was a matter of concern. The third victim could be Mahesh Giri from East Delhi. Union Cabinet Minister Dr Harsh Vardhan may be shifted to East Delhi and a new face may enter Chandni Chowk where Kapil Sibal may be a common Opposition candidate if there is an alliance between AAP-Congress.

The BJP leadership is extremely worried in Delhi despite claims of massive Modi wave and wants to bring new faces to avoid any anti-incumbency. A Congress-AAP alliance will surely give the BJP run for the money as Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal continues to command following among the poor sections of the society. His hard bargaining with the Congress to concede seats in Haryana, Punjab and Goa in lieu of three seats in Delhi is delaying the process.

But many in the BJP feel that this shows party's weakness and sending a wrong signal. In all likelihood the party may announce its candidates for the remaining seats of Haryana, Punjab and Delhi within the next 48 hours.

It now transpires that the BJP leadership is undecided whether to field a Jat candidate from Rohtak or a non-Jat. Chief Minister Manoharlal Khattar feels that a non-Jat be pitted from Rohtak as the non-Jats are against Hoodas.

The BJP failed to win three seats in Haryana during the massive Modi wave and Rohtak was one of them. In Punjab, the BJP-Akalis alliance is in serious trouble where Capt. Amrinder Singh of Congress is very strong.

A search for candidates by the BJP in Amritsar, Hoshiarpur and Gurdaspur is on.

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BJP welcomes Celebrities, But with a rider

by Harish Gupta, National Editor, Lokmat Group

Special report

BJP welcomes Celebrities, But with a rider

Film Stars, Cricketers seeking tickets

Harish Gupta

New Delhi, March 13

BJP high command is not very enthused towards the idea of fielding a large number of celebrities from cricket, cinema, art etc in the ensuing Lok Sabha polls.

Contrary to reports appearing in a section of the media that BJP is contemplating to field former cricketers Virendrer Sehwag, Gautam Gambhir, Sunny Deol and others, the BJP won't like to field a celebrity merely because of a name.

A member of BJP parliamentary board said on the condition of anonymity, “We are not averse to induct talent from these fields. We are talking to couple of them who have shown interest. But our experience has been that these celebrities become a more of a liability than asset.”

Except for Hema Malini and Shatrughan Sinha hardly anyone stayed and worked sincerely for the party. Lately, even Sinha chose to become a rebel after serving the party for 28 long years.

Secondly, after the exit of celebrities, Kirti Azad, Sinha and Navjot Singh Sidhu, the BJP leadership is cautious in picking such faces on a large scale. Instead of inducting such celebrities from party's strong states, the BJP would like to these celebrities belonging to Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Odisha, West Bengal and North Eastern states. The BJP wants to expand in these states and inducted Suresh Babu, Mary Kom into Rajya Sabha. The leadership is not very enthused in bringing in such stars in states where it has a formidable presence like Delhi, Bihar, UP, Gujrat, etc. Of course, the party brought in Paresh Rawal (Gujrat) and Rajya Vardhan Rathore (Rajasthan) in 2014.

Gambhir and Virender Sehwag have been keen to contest but they didn't get involved in the political or social work. The BJP wanted film star Akshay Kumar to join. But he will take his own time. Akshay Khanna wants to contest Gurdaspur seat which was represented by his late father. , Mohanlal and Sunney Deol are keen. But last word on them is yet to written. The names of Madhuri Dixit and Mohan Lal are being mentioned from Mumbai/Pune and Thiruvananthapuram Lok Sabha constituencies respectively.

In June last year, BJP chief Amit Shah had met the actor at her residence in Mumbai and Kapil Dev during his party's 'Sampark for Samarthan' (Contact for Support) program and briefed them on the achievements of the Narendra Modi government.

Therefore, a fine balance is required. But Gambhir won't be fielded from New Delhi, a seat held by Meenakshi Lekhi who is groomed to play more important role.

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