NEW DELHI : The BJP dropped yet another Union minister from its 12th list of candidates for seven Lok Sabha seats, and instead fielded his wife from the Hoshiarpur constituency in Punjab.
The party has also fielded a descendant of an erstwhile royal Maratha family of Chhatrapati Shivaji, who is currently a Rajya Sabha member, from the high-profile Satara seat. Chhatrapati Udayanraje Bhosale received BJP’s recognition on a seat from where Praful Patel of Ajit Pawar-led NCP, now a BJP ally in the ruling Maharashtra coalition government, was eager to contest.
Bhosale won the Satara seat in 2019 as a candidate of the then-undivided NCP. A few months later, he resigned and joined the BJP. But in the bypolls that followed, Bhosale lost as a BJP candidate against NCP’s Shrinivas Patil. Later, the BJP nominated him to the Rajya Sabha in April 2020. His term is due to end in 2026.
The third notable BJP candidate on the list is Abhijit Das, who will lock horns with West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee’s nephew Abhishek Banerjee, from Diamond Harbour that votes on June 1 in the final phase of the elections. Das is the former president of the party’s South 24 Parganas district unit and is said to be very articulate. Das belongs to RSS and had unsuccessfully contested Lok Sabha elections in 2014. With his ’ candidature, the party has announced all 42 candidates from West Bengal.
In Punjab, the BJP dropped Union minister Som Parkash from Hoshiarpur, but fielded his wife Anita Som Parkash from the seat. The party believes Som Parkash holds subtantial influence in the constituency. The BJP had won the Hoshiarpur seat in 2014. In 2019, Som Parkash won the seat defeating Congress’ Raj Kumar Chabbewal.
In the previous polls, the party was at loggerheads with its erstwhile ally SAD over the Hoshiarpur seat.
The BJP has now fielded former IAS officer Parampal Kaur Sidhu from Bathinda that is currently represented by SAD’s Harsimrat Kaur Badal.
Sidhu is the daughter-in-law of senior Akali leader Sikander Singh Maluka and joined the BJP recently with her husband Gurpreet Singh Maluka. A 2011-batch IAS officer, she would be pitted against Congress’ Jeet Mohinder Sidhu and AAP’s Gurmeet Singh Khudian.
Interestingly, SAD has not yet announced its candidate from Bathinda.
The BJP’s latest list came only three days ahead of the first phase of the Lok Sabha elections. The party’s Central Election Committee also announced candidates in Uttar Pradesh. The party has so far fielded candidates for 430 seats out of the total 543 LS seats.
In Uttar Pradesh, the party has fielded Vishwadeep Singh from Firozabad and Shashank Mani Tripathi from Deoria, dropping MPs from these seats. A party source said the anti-incumbency on these two seats was the prime factor behind dropping the MPs.
Former IAS officer to fight from Bathinda
The BJP has fielded former IAS officer Parampal Kaur Sidhu from Bathinda, currently represented by SAD’s Harsimrat Kaur Badal.Sidhu is the daughter-in-law of Akali leader Sikander Singh Maluka. She is pitted against Congress’ Jeet Mohinder Sidhu and AAP’s Gurmeet Singh Khudian.