In a major decision, the BJP on Tuesday announced it will drop its all 10 incumbent MPs from Chhattisgarh and replace them with new faces in the Lok Sabha polls, a decision that comes in the wake of the party’s drubbing in the recent State Assembly elections.
According to reliable sources, the Central Election Committee’s (CEC) scrutinised party’s first list of candidates for the Lok Sabha polls for the second time in last one week for several hours at the meeting called on Tuesday night. Constituencies of a number of MPs have been planned to be changed, sources said.
BJP general secretary Anil Jain, also the party affairs incharge for Chhattisgarh, made the announcement as the BJP’s CEC, which includes Prime Minister Narendra Modi and other top leaders. “We have decided to fight the elections with new candidates and new zeal (in Chhattisgarh),” said Jain, as reported by PTI.
The party decision means that Union Minister Vishnu Deo Sai and seven times Lok Sabha member and former Union Minister Ramesh Bais will not be fielded in the polls.
There is also question mark as to who would contest from LK Advani’s constituency Gandhi Nagar or from that of Murli Manohar Joshi’s LS seat Kanpur. Sources said Gandhi Nagar seat may go to someone whose name BJP patriarch Advani may suggest. Advani's daughter Pratibha has been active in Gujarat for some time. Gujarat ex-CM Anandi Ben Patel’s daughter’s name is also doing the rounds for this prestigious seat.
Former Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Shahta Kumar may also not be fielded by the party, sources said. There was some speculation that Shah should also be taking plunge in 2019 LS poll but that seems highly unlikely given his preoccupation with the strategising and campaigning.
The announcement underscores the BJP’s bid to wrest Chhattisgarh from the Congress, which handed it a massive defeat in the Assembly polls last year. The Congress had won 68 seats, reducing the tally of the BJP, which was in power in the State for 15 years, to a mere 15. The difference in the vote share of the two parties was a huge 10 per cent.
The BJP is also considering not fielding any family member of these sitting MPs, sources said. If the party indeed adopts this criterion, the likely candidature of former Chief Minister Raman Singh, whose son Abhishek Singh is a sitting Member of Parliament, will also be in question.
