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BJP sacrifices propriety for electoral maths

Induction of Sriramulu into party fold and perpetuating dynastic politics in Chhattisgarh are proving to be thorny issues

BS Reporter

The BJP's Central Election Committee (CEC) today postponed discussion on selecting candidates for Lok Sabha seats in crucial and contentious states like Uttar Pradesh and Delhi for a later date.

It, however, did discuss candidates for seats in several states, including Karnataka, and conceded ground to demands of electoral politics over propriety by accommodating B Sriramulu, the protege of illegal mining barons the Reddy brothers, for the contentious Bellary Lok Sabha seat.

By the end of the day it wasn't just BJP's commitment to probity in public life but its anti-dynasty plank also seemed weaker with sources claiming that the CEC has finalised decided to field Chhattisgarh CM Raman Singh's son Abhishek from the Rajanandgaon seat, replacing sitting MP Madhusudan Yadav.

 

The full list of candidates decided at today's meeting was yet to be announced at the time of filing of this report as the meeting went on till late into the night. The meeting decided candidates for seats in Bihar, Jharkhand, Haryana, Kerala, Meghalaya, Manipur, Assam, Maharashtra, Lakshadweep, Karnataka, Odisha and Chhattisgarh.

It postponed discussion on Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, Gujarat, Rajasthan, Andhra Pradesh, Tamilnadu and remaining seats of West Bengal to meetings to be held on Saturday or early next week after the festival of Holi.

Today's decisions, sources said, included contentious ones like brushing aside senior leader Sushma Swaraj's objections to accept Sriramulu in the party fold and taking first steps in perpetuating a dynasty in Chhattisgarh. Last week, Swaraj had made her opposition to the proposed merger of Sriramulu-led BSR Congress's merger into the BJP public and had written to party president Rajnath Singh.

But today the Karnataka party unit was insistent that Sriramulu be given a ticket from Bellary. The party's Karnataka unit is convinced that the entry of both Sriramulu and tainted former CM B.S.  Yedyurappa was critical to the party's chances in the state. The party may have paid lip service to Swaraj's objections by disallowing the merger but asking Sriramulu to apply for BJP's primary membership. He considers the Reddy brothers, who quit BJP after their arrest in the mining scam, as his benefactors.

Yedyurappa who the party had decided to field from Shimoga in an earlier meeting came out of today's meeting to claim that the party has accepted all eight of his and state unit's recommendations, including that of confidantes Shobha Karandlaje, G.S. Basavaraj and Sriramulu. The party had already announced candidates for 20 of the 28 Karnataka seats last week. A senior BJP leader claimed that only those from the BSR Congress who have clean credentials will be accepted in the party.

That the party pushed discussion on problematic as well as crucial states likes UP and Delhi betrayed lack of consensus within the CEC.

All eyes are on UP not only for it being key to BJP's chances to form a government at the Centre given it sends 80 MPs but also with both the party and RSS keen that prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi is fielded from Varanasi by replacing senior leader Murli Manohar Joshi.

There is unease, particularly in delay in announcement of candidates for Delhi's seven seats which go to polls barely a month from now on April 10. The party has found it difficult to select credible fresh faces for Delhi seats. The discussion on the remaining Bengal seats is said to be stuck because of lack of consensus on the candidate for the Darjeeling seat. Senior leader SS Ahluwalia, supported by a section of the CEC, is keen to contest from that seat, with the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha (GJM) willing to support him.

The BJP, both in Andhra and Tamilnadu, is contesting the elections in alliance with regional parties. It is yet to reach a mutually satisfactory seat sharing formula with the Telugu Desam Party and in Tamil Nadu its alliance with DMDK is on the verge of breakdown with the latter insistent on contesting seats that BJP's other ally PMK considers its strongholds.

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First Published: Mar 13 2014 | 7:44 PM IST

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