Sanjay Tandon was sitting near ex-Congress MP Pawan Bansal at bhog when news of him getting BJP ticket from Chandigarh broke out

Chandigarh, April 10

Former Chandigarh BJP president Sanjay Tandon was sitting next to former city MP Pawan Kumar Bansal, the top contender for the Congress ticket, at a bhog ceremony when the news of him getting Lok Sabha ticket from Chandigarh broke out on Wednesday.

Tandon was attending the ceremony at a community centre in Sector 38 (west) here when a BJP’s list for its Lok Sabha candidates was made public, following which he swiftly left the venue.

Tandon has been the city party unit chief for about a decade.

Tandon was also in the reckoning for the ticket in 2014 and 2019 as well. But the BJP had gone with sitting MP and actor Kirron Kher due to apparent factionalism in the party that time.

Tandon was the BJP president that time and when Kher’s name was declared in 2014, some of the BJP workers had even protested showing black flags on her arrival in Chandigarh.

Sources said she had already bowed out of race this time. Other than Tandon, former BJP president Arun Sood and former MP Satya Pal Jain were among several other contenders.

Name of devotional singer Kanahiya Mittal was also doing the rounds.

Earlier, Union minister Anurag Thakur and actress Kangana Ranaut’s names were also said to have been discussed for the ticket.