BJP to announce first list of candidates on Feb 27

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) will announce its first list of candidates on February 27. The list is expected to declare the candidature of all its top leaders including Narendra Modi, L. K. Advani, Sushma Swaraj, Rajnath Singh, Arun Jaitley and Murli Manohar Joshi.

While she confirmed that the list will be out on February 27, leader of the Opposition Sushma Swaraj refused to divulge any further details. Although she is almost certain to be projected again from Vidisha, Madhya Pradesh, from where she had won in 2009, Swaraj said she will follow the party’s diktat on the matter.

“I am a loyal soldier of the party. I’ve gone everywhere, from Delhi (where she contested the Assembly elections) to Bellary. If the party now tells me to fight from Telangana, I will go there,” she said.

The reference to Telangana was significant as Swaraj had played a crucial part in the passage of the Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Bill in the Lok Sabha on February 18. From the floor of the House, she had reminded the people of Telangana: “Don’t forget your Chinnamma (little mother) and not just Sonia Amma.”

Sitting across the table from party President Rajnath Singh, who had contested from Ghaziabad, Uttar Pradesh, Swaraj said she is not fixated on any seat. “If Rajnathji wants to contest from Vidisha, I will invite him there. Mera kya hai, mein to Telangana chali jaoongi (my candidature doesn’t matter so much. I could even go to Telangana.),” she said.

It is not certain where Modi and Arun Jaitley, a Rajya Sabha MP from Gujarat, will contest from. They could both contest from Gujarat or in Jaitley’s case, New Delhi and Amritsar too are frequently mentioned constituencies. The biggest surprise would be Modi about whom there is discussion in the party about the possibility of a contest from Uttar Pradesh. Two seats from the Hindi heartland and politically critical States are discussed in Modi’s context — Varanasi, from where Murli Manohar Joshi is the sitting MP, and Allahabad.

A top source told Business Line that Modi could even contest from two seats simultaneously — one from Gujarat and another from Uttar Pradesh.

If there was any doubt about the veteran L. K. Advani contesting again, he dispelled it himself. Arriving unexpectedly at the party headquarters at 11 Ashoka Road this afternoon, Advani said while responding to a question about his election campaign: “Where is the question about starting a campaign? It is already under way.” Advani is the sitting MP from Gandhinagar.

He said the BJP is in a very good position to emerge as the single largest party in the 16th Lok Sabha. “The Congress’ corruption and mis-governance has ensured that they are at their weakest and the BJP is the strongest it ever was,” Advani said.

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