Date:18/11/2007 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2007/11/18/stories/2007111860361100.htm

National

BJP to finalise first list for Gujarat today

Neena Vyas

NEW DELHI: The Bharatiya Janata Party’s Central Election Committee will be meeting here on Sunday to finalise the party’s first list of candidates for the Gujarat Assembly polls.

The party sources have indicated that a large number of the sitting BJP MLAs may not be accommodated. As many as 30 MLAs, engaged in dissident activities or actively associated with the group led by former chief ministers Keshubhai Patel and Suresh Mehta, are unlikely to get ticket.

In fact, those loyal to Chief Minister Narendra Modi have been saying for some time that one reason for the dissident activity is that those MLAs, who are convinced they will not get ticket, came out in the open against Mr. Modi.

Fresh faces likely

Some more sitting MLAs also may find their names missing from the final list. The party wants to minimise the impact of the anti-incumbency factor and would like to present fresh faces.

Insiders say that this was also a way for Mr. Modi and those loyal to him to ensure that a new lot of MLAs, who owe their ticket to him, get elected to make Mr. Modi’s grip over the Gujarat unit stronger.