Even as the BJP on Saturday cleared the name of ousted Karnataka Chief Minister B S Yeddyurappa, who left the party only to rejoin it later, in the second list of 52 candidates for the Lok Sabha polls, the meeting of its Central Election Committee at the party headquarters here witnessed internal differences among the top brass over questionable alliances and likely allotment of Varanasi seat to BJP PM candidate Narendra Modi.
At the gathering attended by top BJP leaders, including L K Advani, Modi and Sushma Swaraj among others sparks flew as Murli Manohar Joshi quizzed BJP president Rajnath Singh on the reports about Modi being allotted the Varanasi Lok Sabha seat.
Joshi pointedly asked Rajnath as to why the party was remaining tight-lipped on the issue. Although the octogenarian, who currently holds the seat has put his foot down and wants to contest from the seat, leaders close to Modi have been pushing for Joshi to be shifted to Kanpur. Even a signature campaign has been started in Varanasi pushing for Modi’s candidature.
As the issue has generated heat within the party, even threatening to snowball into a controversy, all eyes will on the next meeting scheduled for March 13 when more names will be announced.
Sushma, on her part, questioned the move to forge alliances with the tainted parties. The Leader of Opposition also raised the issue of tie-ups with the Reddy brothers-led BSR Congress.