Delhi, April 1 – Ending suspense, BJP on Monday fielded actor-turned-politician Smriti Irani to take on Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi in Amethi. It also nominated Supreme Court lawyer Ajay Aggarwal against Sonia Gandhi in Rae Bareli.
Earlier, there was speculation that the party may field Uma Bharti from Rae Bareli. Sources said Bharti was not keen to leave her Jhansi seat to contest from Rae Bareli and there was no consensus on making her contest from two seats.
The decision on Irani and Aggarwal was taken at a meeting of the party’s Central Election Committee, where top BJP leaders Narendra Modi, L K Advani, Rajnath Singh and Arun Jaitley were present.
The party decided to field Bhairon Prasad Mishra from the Banda Lok Sabha seat in UP.
New Justice Party (NJP) President A C Shanmugam will contest from Vellore Parliamentary constituency in Tamil nadu on BJP’s Lotus symbol, said BJP General Secretary J P Nadda.
The CEC also announced that its state general secretary Karuappa M Muruganantham will contest from the Thanjavur Lok Sabha seat. The party is also in advance talks with TDP for an alliance in Andhra Pradesh, but a decision on the issue would be taken by Tuesday, party sources said.
After the party announced her nomination, Irani said, “In the name of the ‘family’, the people of Amethi have been kept away from the fruits of development for too long. I think it is an extreme shame.” She said that a change will brought about in the country under the leadership of Narendra Modi.
-INDIA TODAY
