The first list released by the Bharatiya Janata Party has made it emphatically clear that the emphasis was on winning, and it did not matter if any sitting MPs had to be replaced. The list also underlines the fact that those who had been given the nomination for the Lok Sabha elections had to put in their best, with the Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s magic doing the rest. In other words, the BJP candidates were completely dependent on Modi for their victory and that is why many new comers with no political background such as Saket Misra, son of Nripendra Misra, former principal secretary to the Prime Minister figure in the announcement.
What is interesting is that many sitting Rajya Sabha MPs such as Jyotiraditya Scindia and Bhupendra Yadav, have been asked to contest from Guna and Alwar respectively. This would be a chance for them to return to the House of people. As expected, Modi shall be contesting from Varanasi, though there was intense speculation that he could shift to Ayodhya in view of the high-profile Ram Mandir inauguration earlier this year. Smriti Irani shall seek re-election from Amethi, once the bastion of the Gandhis and Rajnath Singh from Lucknow.
The subsequent lists would also provide an insight into how the BJP is preparing itself for the big battle. By being the first big player to release its list, the Saffron Brigade has sent a message regarding its preparedness even before the Election Commission has notified the polls and put into operation the code of conduct. This shows both the confidence and determination of the central leadership to target the third successive term for the party.
Delhi has always been a critical point for all parties and the BJP has decided to drop four sitting MPs while the fifth, Cricketer and sitting East Delhi MP, has voluntarily ruled himself out from the field. The party is yet to announce his replacement and that of Hans Raj Hans, who represented North West Delhi and is certain to be dropped.
The Delhi list has omitted the name of Parvesh Verma, son of former Chief Minister, Sahib Singh Verma, who was two-time MP from West Delhi. The seat has been given to a lady, Ms Kamaljeet Sehrawat. The decision to bring in a new person in place of Parvesh Verma reflects the party central leadership’s dissatisfaction with his working style.
Similarly, in South Delhi, Ramesh Bidhuri who was involved in an unpleasant incident in Parliament with Danish Ali has been dropped, and instead Ramvir Singh Bidhuri, the leader of the Opposition in the Assembly has been fielded. Ramvir Singh Bidhuri, amongst the current lot of politicians from the city, has the maximum experience of politics and public dealing. He could have been the Chief Minister in 2013, after six Congress MLAs had decided to back him, but for reasons not known till now, Arun Jaitley, did not allow that to happen. Incidentally, Bidhuri is a big name in Delhi politics, and was singularly responsible for the fall of Delhi strongman and Congress stalwart HKL Bhagat. In 1991, he contested as a JD nominee from East Delhi and took away the crucial Gurjar voters who till then supported Bhagat resulting in the victory of BL Sharma Prem of the BJP.
In 1993, he put up candidates in all the 70 seats in the Assembly polls thus making the contest triangular and enabling his friend Madan Lal Khurana to lead the BJP to victory and thus become the first CM. The Bhagat story in politics virtually ended after this. If the BJP forms the next government, it is almost certain that Bidhuri would make it to the Union Cabinet from the Capital.
In New Delhi, the BJP has on expected lines, decided to replace Union Minister Meenakshi Lekhi by giving the nomination to Bansuri Swaraj, daughter of former Union Minister Sushma Swaraj. Bansuri is a new comer and has the advantage of being both Sushma’s daughter and the BJP candidate. Her mother was the Chief Minister as also two times party MP from South Delhi while serving as the Union Minister in Atal Behari Vajpayee government.
She brings in a lot of goodwill to the contest and would pose a formidable challenge for her adversaries. Manoj Tewari has been again re-nominated for the North East Delhi seat, largely because of his popularity amongst people from the Poorvanchal region. At one time, there was speculation that he maybe dropped. However, the biggest surprise in the declaration is the omission of Dr Harsh Vardhan, from Chandni Chowk.
Harsh Vardhan has been with the party since his student days and has won multiple MLA polls from Krishna Nagar. His name is synonymous with the BJP in the capital and besides being a part of the Modi Cabinet, he was a minister in the State governments led by Khurana, Sahib Singh Verma and Sushma Swaraj. He has been the State president of the party and an old guard, who has been the face in many electoral battles.
It is not known as yet whether he would be in consideration for the East Delhi seat which has fallen vacant with the retirement of Gambhir. He can be a strong candidate from there as well. The party High Command has consciously kept away Vijay Goel, a prominent Delhi face who represented both Delhi Sadar and Chandni Chowk out of the fray. It is evident that the list has Modi’s stamp and the subsequent declarations that follow would be no different.