BJP does tight rope walk: Sacrifices five seats to JD(U), fields ex-Marxist against Pranab's son

New Delhi, Mar 23 In the list of candidates for Lok Sabha polls across the country, the ruling BJP has tried to do the tight rope walking striking the caste balance, keeping the allies happy and foremost of all laying emphasis on winnability. 

According to party sources here, these things are easier done especially in the context of high expectations from the electorate and the the party workers. 

BJP has so far dropped 42 sitting lawmakers and gave away five incumbent seats to its muscle flexing partner JD(U) in Bihar. The candidates list include over 30 women and there are Muslims as well.

A key member of the BJP Central Election Committee said the enthusiasm suggests the party workers and supporters expect the saffron outfit to touch the 300 figures on its own --- certainly a tall order given the multi-pronged challenges it faces in cowbelt states like Uttar Pradesh. 

The CEC has been ruthless at some places and adopted a rather liberal approach in others - accommodating the sitting lawmakers in many places. However, in certain constituencies - the party has also done last minute fine tuning and changed the candidates' names after judging the challenges those are being posed by the rivals.  

In Assam, in the first list, it replaced five siting MPs to fight the incumbency factor while in states like Maharashtra - it decided to name candidates based on the names the rival parties have announced. 

In West Bengal from Jangipur seat - against Congress MP Abhijit Mukherjee, son of former President Pranab Mukherjee, BJP nominee is Mafuja Khatun.

The 48-year-old Khatun is a two-time former Marxist MLA from neighbouring Dakshin Dinajpur district. She joined the BJP in 2017.

Similarly, against former Chief Minister and ex Union Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde in Solapur, the BJP has given ticket to Jaisiddeshwar Swami. In 2014, sitting MP Sharad Bansode had emerged as giant killer when he humbled Shinde, also a trusted aide of Sonia Gandhi.

Similarly, against Supriya Sule of NCP, the BJP nominee for the prestigious Baramati constituency will be Kanchan Kul, wife of Daund MLA Rahul Kul,

Rahul Kul is the MLA of Rashtriya Samaj Paksh and it goes to much behind the doors negotiations that BJP decided to field his wife in Sharad Pawar bastion.

In Gujarat, the BJP has showed faith in 14 sitting MPs but dropped the member from Surendranagar in the new list of 15 candidates announced on Saturday.

BJP had won all 26 from Prime Minister Narendra Modi's native state in Gujarat. Surendranagar MP Devji Fatehpara has been denied replaced by a Koli community leader Mahendra Munjpara. 

For Vadodara, the party nominee will be Ranjan Ben Bhatt thus ruling out the possibility of Prime Minister Narendra Modi - unlike five years back - making it his second constituency.  In 2014 - besides Varanasi in UP, Mr Modi had contested from Vadodara also and had later given up it up. 

Ms Bhatt had won the seat later in the by-election. In the first list of BJP candidates on Thursday, the Central Election Committee had named Mr Modi for Varanasi yet again while BJP chief Amit Shah will be party candidate from Gandhinagar replacing party patriarch and 91-year-old L K Advani. 

Bharuch MP Mansukh Vasava and Rajkot MP Mohan Kundariya, who were dropped from the Narendra Modi ministry in July, 2016, have been repeated from the two seats. The BJP candidate for Dahod ST seat will be Minister of State for Tribal Affairs Jashvantsinh Bhabhor. 

BJP retained its sitting members and Union Ministers including the likes of Jayant Sinha from Hazaibagh in Jharkhand and Narendra Singh Tomar in Madhya Pradesh. 

Among the modest surprise is Paresh Rawal, sitting Ahmedabad East MP, who has opted out of the contest. The party veteran Shanta Kumar has been denied ticket from Kangra in Himachal Pradesh and instead, the BJP leadership reposed faith in Kishan Kapoor.

Hours before the candidates' names were announced on Saturday, Mr Rawal had tweeted saying he is not keen for contest but he remained "a staunch supporter of Narendra Modi". 

The Union Rural Development Minister Tomar has been shifted from Gwalior to Morena. In 2014, Morena seat in Madhya Pradesh was won by BJP's Anoop Mishra and Mr Tomar had won from Gwalior. But in 2009, Mr Tomar represented Morena parliamentary constituency.

In Gujarat, the BJP reposed faith in Punamben Madam from Jamanagar seat, where the Congress may field Patidar leader Hardik Patel. "The BJP has been ahead of opposition parties in declaring candidates and our campaign will start from Saturday," Gujarat Chief Minister Vijay Rupani said.

In UP, the key Kairana seat has been given Pradeep Chaudhary, a two-time MLA. In 2018, the party had lost the seat in the bypoll when its nominee Mriganka Singh, daughter of Late Hukum Singh. 

In Assam, Dilip Saikia will contest from Mangaldoi constituency instead of Ramen Deka, a founding member of the party’s state unit. Senior parliamentarian and three-time Lok Sabha lawmaker Bijoya Chakravarty has been denied ticket from the prestigious Guwahati constituency. 

Assam Finance Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma, who may come to Rajya Sabha in June, welcomed the nomination of Pallab Lochandas from Tezpur.

Earlier, the party toyed with the idea of fielding state Sarma for the seat but later gave up the move on the ground that Mr Sarma as North-East Democratic Alliance (NEDA) convenor will be more involved in campaigning in the entire north east region. Mr Das is sitting MLA representing Rangapara constituency and is Assam Tea Tribes Welfare (Independent charge) Minister. He will have to sweat it out against Congress nominee, former Assam bureaucrat and Andhra Pradesh-born MGVK Bhanu. 

"I welcome candidature of Sri Pallab Lochandas, my young colleague in Assam, for Tezpur LS seat. A leader from tea tribe community he has always worked hard for the community," Mr Sarma tweeted. 

Kerala state unit general secretary K Surendran, who has the RSS backing, finally walked away with the crucial party ticket for Pathanamthitta parliamentary constituency that houses popular Sabarimala Temple.

The BJP considers it has good chance of winning Pathanamthitta, which was the epicentre of Sabarimala agitation.

Ends