New Delhi, April 03: Senior BJP leader Jaswant Singh will
contest from Darjeeling while eminent lawyer Mahesh Jethmalani
is in the fray against actor Sunil Dutt's daughter and sitting
MP Priya Dutt in the Mumbai North-Central constituency.
The party today made an announcement to this effect when
it declared names of four Lok Sabha candidates.
BJP made Jaswant Singh, Leader of Opposition in the Rajya
Sabha as the contestant from Darjeeling after consultations
with the party's new ally Gorkha Janmukti Morcha during a
meeting with its senior leader L K Advani yesterday evening.
"We are fielding Singh, a former army personnel, from
Darjeeling to send across a message that we are serious about
dealing with the Maoist insurgency on the West Bengal-Nepal
border," a BJP MP told reporters. GJM has pledged its support.
The BJP manifesto released today also promised a
sympathetic hearing to the GJM demands including formation of
a new state in the Darjeeling and Doar region of the state.
Meanwhile, late Pramod Mahajan's daughter Poonam Mahajan
has been ruled out as a contestant with the announcement of
Jethmalani as the BJP candidate against Dutt from Mumbai North
Central. There were reports earlier that BJP wanted to field
Mahajan against Dutt.
Former Mahila Morcha chief Kantatai Nalavade will take on
NCP chief Sharad Pawar's daughter Surpiya Sule in Baramati,
which is Pawar's pocketborough. Jagannath Patil, a former
minister, will be the BJP candidate from Bhiwandi.
Bureau Report
First Published: Friday, April 03, 2009, 00:00