The BJP on Saturday said it had kept its options open on naming a chief ministerial candidate before the second phase of the polls in Himachal Pradesh.
CHANDIGARH: The BJP on Saturday said it had kept its options open on naming a chief ministerial candidate before the second phase of the polls in Himachal Pradesh scheduled for mid next month.
"All options are open. We can name our chief ministerial candidate before or after the polls. However, any final decision in this regard will be taken by party's Central Parliamentary Board, which will hold a meeting shortly," party's incharge of state affairs Satya Pal Jain said here.
To a question, Jain indicated that the party's top leaders Hamirpur MP Prem Kumar Dhumal and Shanta Kumar, both former chief ministers, were top runners for the CM's post.
If one of the two is named as chief ministerial candidate or made CM in case the BJP wrests power from Congress in the hill state, the other can be given a role in central politics, Jain further indicated.
He, however, said both the senior leaders were keen that the party should come to power and were working hard in this direction and had also made it categorical that party's parliamentary board's decision would be abiding on them.
Jain said that while BJP had named candidates for 57 of the 65 seats to be contested in the second phase, including seven women candidates, the list of remaining eight will be released on Sunday or on Monday.
The party will also relase its election manifesto in a week which will be followed by visit of BJP's five top leaders to formally kick off poll campaigning of the second phase on December 5.
On December 5, BJP President Rajnath Singh will address a poll meeting at Solan, L K Advani will address a rally in Kullu district, Sushma Swaraj in Dharamsala, Murli Manohar Joshi in Choupal in Shimla district while Venkaiah Naidu will address a poll rally in Hamirpur, Jain said.
Taking a dig at the ruling Congress in the state, Jain alleged they were not sure of their own Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh, 'whom they are not projecting as chief ministerial candidate'.
"Either the Congress has lost faith in its chief minister or is not sure about the party's prospects under him, as Virbhadra regime has been rocked by scams, corruption besides failing to tackle unemployment and law and order problem," he alleged.
Jain said the BJP had taken the lead in naming its candidates and other poll-related activities.
"Out of 57 candidates list we released, 17 are sitting MLAs and 17 ex-MLAs, which also includes 13 ex-ministers, two are former speakers and ten are first timers. Three candidates are doctors," he said.
The seats for which candidates are to be named are Rohru and Shimla in Shimla district, Palampur in Kangra district, Bamsan in Hamirpur, Mandi and Karsog in Mandi district, Chintpurni in Una and Nadaun in Hamirpur.
In view of yesterday's blasts in Uttar Pradesh, Jain demanded additional forces to ensure smooth conduct of the polls as the state borders militancy-hit Jammu and Kashmir.
He alleged that because of 'political considerations', the Congress-led UPA was going soft in tackling terrorism and said, "people should be given an explanation as to why the government is not executing death penalty in case of terrorists like Afzal Guru".
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