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 Moves privilege motion against Rahul on Rafale

by Harish Gupta, National Editor, Lokmat Group

BJP Moves privilege motion against Rahul on Rafale

Speaker to decide its fate tomorrow

BJP knocks at Ethics committee door too

Harish Gupta

New Delhi, Dec 17

The BJP on Monday launched a massive offensive against Congress president Rahul Gandhi by moving a privilege motion against him for misleading the Lok Sabha by “utterly false statement” on the Rafale deal.

The four ruling party MP s moved the 2-page privilege motion against Rahul gandhi for his statement made in the Lok Sabha on July 20, 2018 which was nothing but “figment of imagination, incorrect and utterly false”. The MP s charged Rahul Gandhi of misleading the House and held him guilty of Breach of Privilege of Parliament.

The MP s also filed a separate petition before the Ethics Committee of the Lok Sabha against Rahul Gandhi saying that his conduct was unbecoming of the MP as he is spreading falsehood in the country despite a clear verdict of the Supreme court on the Rafale deal.

The MP s quoted Rahul Gandhi of saying, “In the Rafale aircraft deal, the UPA government agreed to purchase the aircraft at Rs 520 crores. We do not know what happened and who was spoken to. The Prime Minister went to France but who went with him, the whole country knows. By a magic, the aircraft started costing Rs 1600 crores.”

The MP s said that the above statement is entirely untrue. For reasons of national security, the Government of India has not given out the exact details but has already indicated that the price of the basic aircraft is 9% cheaper and the price of the weaponised aircraft is 20% cheaper compared to the prices being negotiated by the UPA.

The MP s said that this falsehood has been knowingly uttered by him deliberately” and therefore, the motion has been moved.

However, sources say nothing much can be achieved by this motion as the previous privilege motion submitted in the same Rafale deal is still pending with the Speaker of the Lok Sabha.

The four BJP Mps are Nishikant Dubey, Anurag Thakur, Dr Sanjay Jaiswal and Prahlad Patel. If the motion is accepted by the Speaker, it will go to privileges committee of the Lo Sabha headed by first term BJP MP Meenakshi Lekhi. But the fate of the motion is unlikely to be decided by the House as it will adjourn on January and will meet for the interim budget on January 30 and adjourn sine die on February 15.

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