CHANDIGARH: Interests of BJP leaders who were denied tickets will be kept in mind once the elections are over, Haryana chief minister Manohar Lal Khattar said on Tuesday.
Two cabinet ministers Vipul Goel and Rao Narbir Singh were among seven MLAs whose names were not included in the first list of 78 candidates released by BJP yesterday.
In a bid to placate the upset those who were denied tickets, Khattar said, "I expect all the leaders to consider BJP like their mother, even those who did not get a ticket. We will ensure their 'maan samman' (honour). After elections, their 'maan samman' will be kept in the party and the government."
Khattar who has been re-nominated from Karnal, said the BJP has announced candidates for 78 seats and the nominees for remaining 12 seats will be announced soon.
On three Olympians (wrestler Babita Phogat, former Indian hockey captain Sandeep Singh and Olympic medallist Yogeshwar Dutt) given tickets by the BJP, Khattar said these three are top class players in their respective fields."We have fielded them in these elections definitely, they will win the polls with a huge margin," he said.
While Goel was sitting MLA from Faridabad, Rao Narbir Singh represented Badshahpur constituency in Gurgaon district and Deputy Speaker Santosh Yadav was sitting MLA from Ateli constituency in Mahendergarh district. Goel has been replaced by Narinder Gupta, Manish Yadav comes in for Singh and Sita Ram Yadav has
replaced Santosh.
Meanwhile, Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath and BJP Haryana chief Subhash Barala were present when Khattar filed his nomination papers.