NEW DELHI/CHANDIGARH: The Bharatiya Janata Party on Sunday finally unveiled its second list of candidates comprising 155 names for the poll bound Uttar Pradesh that included family members of senior party leaders besides turncoats.
Family members of senior BJP leaders, including Union Minister for Home Affairs Rajnath Singh, Rajasthan Governor Kalyan Singh, former MP from Lucknow Lalji Tandon, Lok Sabha MP from Kairana Hukum Singh and Lok Sabha MP Braj Bhushan Singh, bagged nominations to contest the assembly elections in Uttar Pradesh (UP).
Grandson of former Prime Minister Lal Bahadur Shastri -- Siddharth Nath Singh – also bagged the saffron nomination to contest from Allahabad (West).
Pankaj Singh, son of Rajnath Singh, was fielded by the BJP from Noida constituency. Incidentally, the BJP dropped the sitting MLA Anita Batham to accommodate the son of Union Minister for Home Affairs.
Turncoats also found place including the former state Congress chief Rita Bahuguna Joshi from Lucknow (West). The party also nominated the former Brahmin face of BSP Brajesh Pathak from the Lucknow (Central) constituency.
Furthermore, it accommodated former Samajwadi Party legislators Nand Kumar Nandi and Sunil Singh. While the BJP had fielded a large number of non-Yadav OBCs in its first list, the second list saw the
saffron outfit attempting a caste balance with Brahmins, Thakurs, Vaishyas and extremely backward castes bagging nominations.
Sources said the BJP would leave six seats for the Anupriya Patel-headed Apna Dal faction while sparing seven constituencies for the Bhartiya Samaj Party.
Meanwhile, the party has also released its manifesto for the Punjab polls. Under ``Ek parivar, ek rozgaar yojana’’, the BJP has promised a house for every poor, besides 2kg ghee and 5 kg sugar for blue card holders along with free education for girls of poor families till PhD.
Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley released the manifesto for the Punjab assembly elections in Jalandhar. Jaitley said the implementation of the Goods and Services Tax (GST) by July this year would
lead to an increase in the revenue for state governments.
“Our poll manifesto is based on the infrastructure and social upliftment of the people of Punjab,” he said adding that the alliance with SAD will continue like before and the party will expand developmental activities if given another term in the state.
The manifesto also promises implementation of the seventh pay commission, raising the retirement age of government employees to 60 years, opening five new Post-graduate Institute of Medical Education and Research (PGI) in the state.