AHMEDABAD
The suspense over Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) remaining five Lok Sabha seats in Gujarat got over on Saturday after the party announced the names following an informal meeting at chief minister’s residence.
The meeting was chaired by BJP's prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi.
Surprisingly, the party decided to axe seven-time sitting MP Harin Pathak and name Bollywood actor Paresh Rawal for the Ahmedabad East constituency. According to the announcement, the party has repeated sitting MP Prabhatsingh Chauhan from Panchmahal, Devusingh Chauhan from Kheda and named Dipsinh Rathore against the leader of opposition in the state assembly Shankarsinh Vaghela from Sabarkantha constituency.
Supporters of Paresh Rawal are happy with the announcement. “We were waiting for the official announcement and are ready to celebrate,” a close aide to Rawal said. Meanwhile, all attempts to reach Paresh Rawal remained futile. He did not even respond to an SMS. However, family sources claimed that the actor is busy shooting for a film in Nairobi (Kenya) and is likely to reach Ahmedabad on March 25. It should be noted that Rawal actively campaigned for Narendra Modi and various other candidates during the 2012 assembly election.
According to sources, this development is another blow to LK Advani as after Rajendrasinh Rana (Bhavnagar) and former MP Dr Vallabh Kathiriya, Pathak is the third loyalist to be denied a ticket.
At a hearing before the parliamentary board, BJP workers of Ahmedabad East constituency preferred Pathak provided chief minister Narendra Modi does not wish to contest here. Workers were unwilling to sacrifice Pathak for the sake of Narhari Amin or former mayor Asit Vora.
After Modi’s name was announced from Varanasi and Vadodara, staunch party supporters were demanding for Pathak from Ahmedabad East, but the top brass of the party dashed their hopes.
Party sources also viewed Advani’s reluctance to contest from Gandhinagar, earlier in the week, as a show of strength for Pathak. And, soon after the announcement of candidate list for Gujarat on Wednesday, the veteran leader conveyed his displeasure on the issue.
In what will be a repeat of the 2009 contest, BJP MLA Devusinh Chauhan will take on Congress heavyweight and union minister Dinsha Patel from Kheda constituency. In 2009, Patel barely managed to win — by a margin of just 846 votes, the lowest margin among all 26 seats in the state. Patel was not keen on contesting in the upcoming election and had asked the Congress against naming him as a candidate.
However, his request was not accepted.
Sitting MP from Panchmahals, Prabhatsinh Chauhan will take on Congress candidate Ramsinh Parmar. Questions were being raised whether Chauhan would be given a ticket by the BJP, especially after his name was missing from the first list, but all the speculations have been put to rest.
Rift between Jasha Barad — who defected from Congress last month — and tainted sitting MP Dinu Bogha Solanki forced the party to think twice for the Junagadh constituency. Hence, Rajesh Chudasama — MLA from Mangrol and 32-year-old Koli leader — was selected to take on Jashu Barad of Congress from Junagadh.
Chudasama is third Koli leader fielded by the BJP in Lok Sabha election after Dr Bharti Shiyal (Jamnagar) and Devshi Fatepara (Surendranagar).
Other than the five names, party also announced three candidates for by-elections of the state assembly. Pankaj Mehta, Rajendrasinh Chavda and Jasha Barad have been given tickets from Rapar, Himmatnagar and Somnath constituency, respectively.
Seven BJP candidates less than 50 years old
Seven out of 26 candidates declared by the BJP for the Lok Sabha seats in the stare are under 50. Rajesh Chudasama, from Junagadh is 32, making him the youngest candidate. Vinod Chavda, from Kutch (SC), and Poonam Maadam, from Jamnagar, are under 40. Bharti Shiyal, from Bhavnagar seat, Jashwantsinh Bhabhor, from Dahod, Prabhu Vasava from Bardoli (ST), and Devusinh Chauhan, are less than 50 years old. The party has fielded four women, three doctors and two engineers from the state.
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