BJP state lists from Nov 3

BJP spokesman Prakash Javdekar said the party leadership had taken up the exercise of sorting out names for the candidates in right earnest. "We have decided to focus on those Assembly seats, where the BJP had an edge over its rivals during the Lok Sabha polls in 1999," he said.

At the party's CEC meeting, Javdekar said the candidates' selections would be cleared on the basis of merit.

"We will clear the list much before the process of filing nominations," he said, adding that candidates would get enough time to prepare for the polls.

BJP sources admit that the party's decision to clear the lists at the earliest is prompted by the fear that the BJP leadership in all these states would face serious infighting once the lists were announced. "This will give enough time to settle the dust," said a senior BJP leader.

In a series of strategy sessions held by senior party leaders here, the major cause of worry emerged from the possibility of rebels playing a significant role in spoiling the chances of BJP's official candidates.

BJP's chief ministerial candidate Uma Bharti had apprised the party's central leadership that the party's state unit would be facing a difficult task of handling the dissidents.

Similarly, BJP's chief ministerial candidates in Rajasthan -- Vasundhara Raje Scindia -- is up against a powerful lobby of state BJP leaders who are not happy over the manner in which Scindia has been running the show in the state.

The infighting in the party is also evident in Delhi and Chhattisgarh. The party's CEC meeting is expected to devise a mechanism to neutralise these problems, BJP sources say.