Several sitting MPs may be denied party tickets in states like Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Haryana, Madhya Pradesh, Bihar HP, Delhi and Uttrakhand.
Highly confident of victory in coming parliamentary elections, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has rendered sleepless nights to several ministers and sitting members of Parliament (MPs) as they are under watch list and their candidature is at risk.
The Prime Minister, if sources are believed, wants a generational change and above all a fresh team without baggage.
If sources are believed, several ministers and MPs have lost their nerves as PM Modi has asked ministers to chalk out a 100-day action plan and ready a blue-print for full five-year term.
PM Modi, sources said, has asked them to junk the expectations of cabinet berth and work in-toto with true spirit. Except for a few, most are in dilemma as they are apprehensive of getting dropped or even making comeback as ministers if Modi-led BJP government retains power for the third term.
On the other hand, PM Modi is brimming with confidence of getting an overwhelming majority, in contrast some members of Parliament and ministers are not confident of their next term.
If sources are believed, those who have been winning for several terms may be dropped and therefore a need is felt for fielding some new faces particularly in Hindi heartland.
Several sitting MPs may be denied party ticket in states like Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Haryana, Madhya Pradesh, Bihar Himachal Pradesh, Delhi and Uttrakhand.
If sources are believed, several Union ministers and some MPs in these states are in a fix and have yet not decide about their plan nor formed any team for their respective constituencies. It is also evident as BJP has not re-nominated seven Union ministers for Rajya Sabha recently. These include Bhupendra Yadav, Dharmendra Pradhan, Mansukh Mandavia, Narayan Rane, Purushottam Rupala, Rajiv Chandrashekhar and V Murlidharan. It is learnt that they may be fielded in coming Lok Sabha elections; only constituencies and states are to be decided. Yet, some of them may be dropped.
Bhupendra Yadav, Mandavia, Rane and Pradhan may be asked to contest coming Lok Sabha elections. Bhupendra Yadav may get ticket from Alwar, Rajasthan or any Yadav community dominated seat in Haryana. Rao Indrajeet Singh has successfully contested Gurugram Lok Sabha seat for fourth time in a row and now he wants ticket for his daughter as he is keen to contest State Assembly election.
If this takes shape, Bhupendra Yadav may be given ticket from Narnaul or Bhiwani, however chances are more that he may be asked to contest election from Alwar, Rajasthan – a safe seat. It is yet not decided if Dharmendra Pradhan will contest from Delhi, or Odisha.
Several ministers of similar rank are in dilemma. Except for Union Home Minister Amit Shah, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, Women and Child welfare minister Smriti Irani and Surface Transport minister Nitin Gadkari, reportedly none has been given assurance of ticket.
Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman and external affairs minister S Jaishankar may also be fielded in Lok Sabha elections. It would be interesting to see if they are fielded from Hindi or non-Hindi belt. Senior leaders like Jyotiraditya Scindia and Anurag Thakur will be asked to contest general elections. Scindia, a sitting Rajya Sabha member, may contest from his home turf Gwalior or Guna; his close confidants clued that he would contest Guna seat. Yet, a final go will be given by PM Modi.
As far as Anurag Thakur is concerned, it has to be seen whether he will contest from his preferred Parliamentary seat or be fielded from somewhere else – most likely Chandigarh.
Interestingly, as per some reports Varun Gandhi may be dropped, but party insiders say he may be fielded from Pilibhit. Varun is known as an outspoken person who nit-picked some policy matters of the government, party insiders say he never spoke against the party. A survey report ranked him among the best for candidature. He has better chances to get a ticket.
Besides as per sources, only PM Modi will take final call on names of RK Singh, Jitendra Singh, Arjun Ram Meghwal, Krishnapal, General VK Singh, Meenakshi Lekhi, Fagan Singh Kulaste, Ashwani Chobe etc.
Among them, the party had fielded Kulaste in Madhya Pradesh Assembly elections, but he lost his elections and it is possible he may be dropped.
Narendra Singh Tomar and Prahlad Patel have also very thin chance to come back to the Centre.
However, the State Election Committee has sent their names. There are also indications that former Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chauhan and former Chief Minister of Rajasthan Vasundhara Raje Scindia may be asked to go into battlefield. If sources are believed PM Modi may spring many surprises by picking bureaucrat, sportspersons and cine artists as per his plan to give more opportunities to new people.