Date:27/06/2008 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2008/06/27/stories/2008062757830100.htm

Front Page

BJP bracing for Lok Sabha elections

Special Correspondent

Advani to contest from Gandhinagar again

Venkaiah: we hope to finish selection by August-end
Leaders told to visit States and discuss poll preparedness

NEW DELHI: The Bharatiya Janata Party’s Central Election Committee on Thursday finalised party candidates from six Lok Sabha constituencies, kicking off the selection process which it hopes to complete by August-end.

All State units have been asked to highlight the “insensitive manner” in which the United Progressive Alliance has dealt with the Ramar Sethu issue and on Friday in Kanpur, Mr. Advani will virtually blow the election bugle at a rally signalling the start of the battle.

With BJP president Rajnath Singh in the chair and the party’s prime ministerial candidate L.K. Advani in attendance, the CEC deliberated the party’s poll strategy for 90 minutes before announcing that Mr. Advani will once again contest from the Gandhinagar constituency in Gujarat.

Sidhu from Amritsar

The BJP will retain the former cricketer, Navjot Singh Sidhu, for Amritsar (Punjab). He was allowed to contest a byelection in 2007 caused by his own resignation when the Supreme Court in January 2007 stayed the Punjab High Court’s conviction and sentence against him in a murder case related to a 1988 incident of road rage, pending his appeal.

Actor Vinod Khanna will be allowed to contest again from Gurdaspur in Punjab, while the North Goa (Panaji) seat will go once again to sitting MP Sripad Naik. In Garhwal (Pauri) Lok Sabha seat in Uttarakhand, the party’s candidate will be Lieutenant General (retired) G.P.S. Rawat, while in the Hamirpur constituency in Himachal Pradesh, Anurag Thakur has been declared the candidate.

Briefing reporters after the meeting, senior leader Venkaiah Naidu and CEC member-secretary Ananth Kumar said the party leadership had concluded that it would be advantageous to finalise candidates at the earliest to give them a headstart.

A 30-point plan of action has been sent to the State units for early implementation. State election committees are to meet at the earliest, shortlist candidates and send the lists to the CEC for finalisation. “We hope to complete the entire process by end August,” Mr. Naidu said.

Ramar Sethu issue

Besides the central party manifesto — which, in fact, would be finally overshadowed by a common minimum agenda of the National Democratic Alliance — the party will release State-specific manifestoes. Ramar Sethu is to be given a prominent place in the manifesto.