M A I N   N E W S

BJP to contest 23 seats
Tribune News Service

New Delhi, January 16
The BJP today released the list of 23 candidates for the Assembly elections in Punjab dropping three of its sitting MLAs.

Announcing the list of candidates for Punjab, Manipur and Lok Sabha by-elections, BJP General Secretary Maya Singh said the party was fielding 23 candidates in Punjab which was cleared by the Central Election Committee (CEC) last evening.

The CEC meeting, held yesterday at Prime Minister’s residence, was chaired by BJP President K. Jana Krishnamurthi and was attended by Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee and Home Minister Lal Krishna Advani, she said.

The party has decided to drop three sitting MLAs —Mrs Roop Rani from Dinanagar, Mr Ram Lal from Nerot Mehra and Sardar Girdhari Singh from Ferozpur — replacing them with Mr Sitaram Kashyap, Mr Bishamber Nath and Mr Sukhpal Singh Saini, Mrs Maya Singh said adding that the party was contesting the same number of seats as in the last Assembly elections.

The party thus has changed five candidates this time dropping three sitting and two more from the overall list of candidates of the last Assembly election.

The party has decided to field Mr Ghanshyamji from Yamunanagar in Haryana for the assembly by-election.

Of the three by-elections in Gujrat, Gujrat Chief Minister Narendra Modi has been put up from Rajkot-2 constituency, Mr Jitendra Rathilal Sukhadia from Syajiganj and Mr Manubhai Amtabhai Patel from Mahua.

The party has decided to field sitting MLA Deshraj Singh Yadav against Congress candidate and son of late Madhavrao Scindia, Mr Jyotiraditya Scindia, for Guna by-election in Madhya Pradesh, while it cleared the candidature of Mr Easwarappa from the Kanakpur constituency and Mr Supratim S. Sen from the West Tripura constituency.

Mrs Maya Singh said the party would contest the election in Punjab with its ally the Shiromani Akali Dal with the two having separate manifestos, however, they would announce a common minimum programme of the alliance.

In Manipur, the party decided to go it alone, not getting into an alliance with any party, including its ally in the Central government, the Samata Party. It would field as many as 48 nominees for the 60-member Assembly.

The Punjab list has the names of Mr Balramji Das Tandon (Rajpura), Mr Madan Mohan Mittal (Nangal), Mrs Lakshmikanta Chawla (Amritsar Central), Dr Baldevraj Chawla (Amritsar North), Mr Om Prakash Kalia (Amritsar West) , Mr Manoranjan Kalia (Jalandhar Central), Mr Bhagat Chunni Lal (Jalandhar South), Mr Suresh Sehgal (Jalandhar North), Mr Satpal Gosain (Ludhiana East), Mr Pran Nath Bhatia (Ludhiana North), Mr Satpal Saini (Sujanpur), Master Mohan Lal (Pathankot), Mr Sitram Kashyap (Dinanagar), Mr Bishamber Nath (Nerot Mehra), Mr Jagdish Saini (Batala), Mr Tikshan Sood (Hoshiarpur), Mr Arunesh Shakar (Mukerian), Mahant Ram Prakash (Dasuha), Mr Avinash Rai Khanna (Garshankar), Mr Sukhpal Singh Saini (Ferozpur), Dr Ram Kumar Goyal (Abohar), Mr Surjit Kumar Jyani (Fazilka) and Mr Swarnaram (Phagwara).

Cong not to review Punjab list
Prashant Sood
Tribune News Service

New Delhi, January 16
Even as Congressmen from Punjab continue to throng the AICC to convey their grievances on ticket selection, the high-command has virtually ruled out reviewing decision on controversial seats.

AICC Treasurer Motilal Vora today said the list would not be reviewed. He said that though reports had come in the media about party leaders resigning in some districts in protest against the selection of candidates, no such report had come from the PCC. “All problems will be sorted out,” Mr Vora said. He said disciplinary action of six-year expulsion from primary membership would be followed in cases where any party leader contested against the official nominee.

Sources said some of the dissatisfied party leaders had been contacted by activists of the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) and a decision on their contesting as Independents or as NCP candidates would be announced shortly.

Senior party leader Buta Singh, who wanted his son Arvinder Singh to contest from Khanna, met Mr Vora yesterday. He is also likely to meet Congress President Sonia Gandhi regarding candidature of his son from Amloh.

Party leaders from constituencies of Dina Nagar, Narot Mehra, Jagraon, Kharar, Kapurthala and Qila Raipur were among those who have met Mr Vora. Mr Darshan Singh Brar, who is seeking a ticket from Jagraon, has come to the AICC with a large number of his supporters.

Mr Vora said problem in Barnala had been solved with Mr Surinder Pal Singh Sibia having agreed to contest from his allotted seat of Barnala and not from Sangrur. Youth Congress workers from Punjab are also unhappy at the high-command not giving seats to its senior leaders. Fifteen youth Congress leaders from the state, including its state president Mr Devinder S. Babboo, had applied for ticket but none of them figured in the list.

The high-command, which has also received reports of discontent among party workers from Kharar, Nangal, Muktsar and Bathinda, is still awaiting a report from the PCC.