Shripad, Sawaikar in list l Gadkari cleared
TEAM HERALD
NEW DELHI: The Bharatiya Janata Party Thursday night ended the suspense on candidature of its immediate past president Nitin Gadkari, declaring him as the party’s candidate for the Nagpur Lok Sabha seat while releasing the first list of 54 candidates, including 16 from Maharashtra and two from Goa.
Former union minister Shripad Naik has been re-fielded from North Goa while the South Goa seat has gone to State BJP general Secretary Narendra Keshav Sawaikar.
Former Himachal chief minister Shanta Kumar will contest from Kangra and Bharatiya Yuva Janata Morcha chief Anurag Thakur from Hamirpur.
The party has nominated two Muslim candidates in Jammu and Kashmir ~ Gulam Mohammad Mir in Baramulla and Mushtaq Ahmad Malik Nurabadi in Anantnag constituencies.
The list released after a meeting of the party’s Central Election Committee, covers eight states and includes six SCs and six STs, four minorities and two women.
The party took the lead over the Congress by becoming the first to declare the candidates immediately after a meeting of its central election committee in the BJP headquarters here even while the Congress has put off its central election committee meeting for Friday.
Gopinath Munde will be seeking re-election from Beed, while Kirit Somaiya is to be fielded from Mumbai North East last time won by NCP’s Sanjay Patil and Gopal Shetty from Mumbai North, the seat held by Sanjay Nirupam of Congress who defected from the Shiv Sena. Dilip Kumar Gandhi has been re-fielded from Ahmednagar.
Candidates from seven other states announced are: 17 from West Bengal, six from Odisha, five from Jammu and Kashmir, three from Himachal Pradesh and two each from Goa, Manipur and Arunachal Pradesh.
