9 Union ministers, 3 ex-CMs in BJP’s second list for 2024 polls

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Wednesday nominated nine Union ministers and three former chief ministers in its second list of 72 candidates spanning 10 states and a Union territory for the upcoming Lok Sabha polls, and dropped 28 sitting lawmakers.

The party fielded commerce minister Piyush Goyal from Mumbai North and renominated roadways minister Nitin Gadkari from Nagpur in Maharashtra, information and broadcasting minister Anurag Thakur from Hamirpur, Himachal Pradesh, and parliamentary affairs minister Pralhad Joshi from Karnataka’s Dharwad.

Union minister of state Bhagwant Khuba will contest from Bidar in Karnataka, which he represents and Shobha Karandlaje, who currently represents Chikmagalur in the Lok Sabha, will contest from Bengaluru North. Krishan Pal Gurjar has been retained Faridabad in Haryana, Rao Inderjit Singh from Gurugram, and Bharti Pawar from Dindori in Maharashtra, a seat reserved for Scheduled Tribes (STs) in Maharashtra. The party replaced Union minister Darshana Jardosh in Surat, where it fielded Mukesh Bhai Chandrakant Dalal.

Read Here | Union ministers, ex-CMs, scions of royal families: Big names in BJP's 2nd list for Lok Sabha polls

Also named in the list were three former CMs — Trivendra Singh Rawat from Hardwar in Uttarakhand, BS Bommai from Haveri in Karnataka, and Manohar Lal Khattar from Karnal in Haryana. Khattar stepped down as Haryana chief minister just the previous day.

The party named its first list of 195 candidates across 16 states on March 2. In all, the party has named 267 candidates. The party has now announced its candidates for all seven seats in Delhi, all 29 in Madhya Pradesh, both seats in Tripura, and all four seats in Uttarakhand.

In the second list, nine candidates come from STs, 10 belong to Scheduled Castes and 15 are women. The list covered Haryana, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Telangana, Karnataka, Tripura, Daman and Diu, Gujarat, Himachal Pradesh, Delhi and Uttarakhand.

In Karnataka, the party dropped state unit chief Nalin Kumar Kateel from Dakshina Kannada in favour of Brijesh Chowta. The party also removed Pratap Simha from Mysuru and gave the ticket to Yaduveera Krishnadatta Chamaraja Wodeyar, the scion of the royal family of Mysuru.

Read Here: BJP names 72 candidates for upcoming Lok Sabha elections | Full list

Simha had triggered a controversy after it came to light that two men who breached the Lok Sabha security and sprayed coloured smoke in the chamber in December last year got their passes signed by him.

The party fielded Banto Kataria, the wife of its deceased leader and former MP Rattan Lal Kataria, from Ambala, a seat which was believed to be coveted by former Haryana minister Anil Vij. The MP from Sirsa in Haryana, Suneeta Duggal, was also dropped in favour of Ashok Tanwar, a Congress turncoat.

The party also announced candidates for the remaining two seats in Delhi — named former mayor of the erstwhile East Delhi Municipal Corporation Harsh Malhotra from East Delhi and former North Delhi mayor Yogendra Chandola from North-West Delhi, which is reserved for SCs. The party has replaced six of the seven sitting MPs in the Capital, retaining just Manoj Tiwari from North East Delhi.

The head of the party’s media wing, Anil Baluni, who is also a Rajya Sabha MP, was fielded from Garhwal in Uttarakhand, and the head of its youth wing, Tejasvi Surya, from Bengaluru South.

In Tripura, where the party recently inked a pre-poll alliance with the TIPRA Motha, it gave the Tripura East ticket to Maharani Kriti Singh Debbarman, the sister of the party founder and royal scion Pradyot Kishore Manikya Debbarma.

Read Here: All BJP candidates for Delhi Lok Sabha seats named

Former Karnataka CM’s BS Yediyurappa’s son BY Raghavendra was picked from Shimoga; V Somanna, a former state minister, was nominated from Tumakuru; B Sriramulu was fielded from Ballari, a seat he won last in 2014. Senior BJP leader, the late Sushma Swaraj, had opposed his induction from the region.

In Davanagere, former Union minister DM Siddheshwar’s wife, Gayatri Siddheshwar, is the candidate; CN Manjunath, a Padma Shri laureate and son-in-law of Janata Dal (Secular) supremo HD Deve Gowda, will take on the Congress’s DK Suresh in Bangalore Rural.

In Maharashtra, Pankaja Munde was fielded from the family bastion of Beed, replacing her sister Pritam Munde. Heena Gavit was fielded from Nandurbar, overriding the opposition from the Shiv Sena. Lawmakers Manoj Kotak from Mumbai North East and Gopal Shetty from Mumbai North were dropped. Mihir Kotecha and Goyal replaced Kotak and Shetty respectively.

In Madhya Pradesh, Anil Firojiya is the party’s choice from Ujjain. The sitting MP from Ujjain, accepted Gadkari’s challenge to lose weight to get funds for his constituency.

In Telangana, national vice-president DK. Aruna was named from Mahabubnagar and former lawmaker M Raghunandan Rao from Medak. Of the 17 seats, only Khammam and Warangal are yet to be announced.

Former MP Godam Nagesh and Rajya Sabha member Sitaram Naik, who switched sides from the Bharat Rashtra Samithi, were fielded from the Adilabad and Mahabubabad constituencies, respectively. Another former BRS legislator, Saidi Reddy, will contest from Nalgonda.

Former Union minister Ramesh Pokhriyal ‘Nishank’ was dropped from Haridwar.