BJP's second list | Party leadership sends clear message to bigwigs
While the BJP leadership is asking former chief ministers to play a bigger role in parliamentary politics, it has also asked some prominent union ministers who are members of Rajya Sabha to contest Lok Sabha polls
With the Election Commission likely to announce the dates for the upcoming general elections in the next few days, the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) released its second list of candidates, sending a clear message that all senior leaders must contest the Lok Sabha polls.
A day after being replaced as chief minister of Haryana, ML Khattar has been asked to contest the election from the Karnal constituency. Khattar is not alone in the list of former chief ministers who have been asked to be involved in national politics rather than the functioning of the state BJP.
Three CMs in fray
Former Karnataka chief minister Basavaraj Bommai and former Uttarakhand chief minister Trivendra Singh Rawat are among the people whose names were included in the list of 72 candidates released on Wednesday evening. Out of the 72 names announced by the BJP, at least 29 leaders have been changed.
While the BJP leadership is asking former chief ministers to play a bigger role in parliamentary politics, it has also asked some prominent union ministers who are members of Rajya Sabha to contest Lok Sabha polls. Senior BJP leaders have asked Union Minister Piyush Goyal to contest the upcoming general elections, and he has been asked to contest from the Lok Sabha seat of North Mumbai.
“The common link among all the three former chief ministers who have been asked to contest election is that either BJP lost the election under their tenure like Basavaraj Bommai or they were unable to complete their tenure in office like ML Khattar. By giving them tickets for the Lok Sabha elections, senior leaders of BJP have asked them to work for the party at the national level and not get involved in the state,” said a senior BJP leader from Karnataka.
Gadkari finally!
Ending several months of speculation, the BJP leadership decided to name union minister Nitin Gadkari from the Nagpur constituency. There was speculation that Gadkari was considering the option of not contesting the polls this time and instead work for the party in Maharashtra.
Interestingly, out of the 72 candidates who have been named in the second list of candidates, there are five union ministers, including Anurag Thakur, Piyush Goyal, Nitin Gadkari, Shobha Karandlaje and Prahlad Joshi.
“The problem most people face about BJP is that people do not realise the party is a cadre-based party and the decision of the organisation is final. A BJP leader can be asked to contest the Lok Sabha election, and the same leader can be asked to contest the assembly election or can also be asked to work for the party. We are a disciplined political party and not a family-based party where people get to choose their constituencies. While some senior leaders have been asked to contest Lok Sabha polls, many parliamentarians were sent to states during the Assembly elections in Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh,” said Pratyush Kanth, national spokesperson of BJP.
Message for allies
Even before the BJP leadership finalised the seat-sharing formula with its alliance partners in Maharashtra and Karnataka, the party's second list of candidates included 20 out of the 48 seats in Maharashtra and 20 seats in Karnataka.
Although the seat-sharing formula between BJP and Janata Dal (Secular) or JDS in Karnataka has not been officially announced, the BJP leadership has announced the name of CN Manjunath, son-in-law of former prime minister HD Deve Gowda, who has been asked to contest from the constituency of Bangalore Rural.
“The constituencies being offered to JDS leaders are Hassan, Mandya, and Kolar, while Manjunath will contest on a BJP ticket. So technically, JDS will have four Lok Sabha constituencies, but the party will only contest three seats,” said a BJP leader.
Although the seat-sharing formula for alliance partners in Maharashtra has also not been announced, the BJP leadership has sent a strong message to Chief Minister Eknath Shinde and Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar that BJP will contest the majority of the seats in Maharashtra and there will be no compromise on the sitting seats of the BJP.
Major changes
The BJP leadership has not only asked all the bigwigs to contest elections in the upcoming polls. Some prominent leaders from different states have also been asked not to contest the national polls.
Delhi has witnessed some major changes. Six out of seven sitting Members of Parliament (MPs) have been replaced, and only Bhojpuri actor-turned-politician Manoj Tiwari has been retained in the national capital. Among the changes in Delhi, cricketer-turned-politician Gautam Gambhir and singer Hans Raj Hans have been dropped.
The case is no different in other states as well and some of the prominent names have been dropped by the BJP leadership. Former chief minister of Uttarakhand Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank, former Karnataka chief minister Sadanand Gowda, Anant Kumar Hegde, Nalin Kumar Kateel and Pratap Simha were among the leaders who were denied a ticket by the BJP.
“The ability to win and acceptability are two major factors that decide whether a candidate will get a Lok Sabha ticket or not. Most of the leaders who have been denied a ticket this time have already been Members of Parliament several times and have also played an important role in the state,” said Kant.
