Chandigarh : The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) announced its eighth list of candidates for the Lok Sabha polls on Saturday, declaring six contestants from Punjab, including three leaders who recently switched to the party and announcing the electoral debut of a former top diplomat.
The BJP announced earlier this week that it will contest all 13 LS seats in Punjab on its own, ending weeks-long speculation about the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD)’s return to the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) and setting the stage for a four-cornered fight in the state. This will be the first time since 1996 that the BJP and the SAD, one of the oldest constituents of the NDA which parted ways over the 2020-21 farm law protests, will be fighting the Lok Sabha polls alone in the state.
The ruling party at the Centre announced its candidates for six of Punjab’s 13 Lok Sabha seats, fielding Congress turncoats Ravneet Singh Bittu from Ludhiana and Preneet Kaur from Patiala. The BJP also fielded AAP’s lone Lok Sabha MP Sushil Kumar Rinku, who joined the party on Wednesday, from Jalandhar.
A two-time Ludhiana parliamentarian and grandson of former Punjab chief minister Beant Singh, Bittu left the Congress and joined the BJP on Tuesday. “I extend my gratitude to the honourable Prime Minister Narendra Modi, home minister Amit Shah, JP Nadda and Punjab BJP president Sunil Jakhar, and the complete leadership for giving me the ticket for Lok Sabha polls from Ludhiana. We will take Ludhiana to new heights with the support and love of people,” he posted on X.
{{/usCountry}}A two-time Ludhiana parliamentarian and grandson of former Punjab chief minister Beant Singh, Bittu left the Congress and joined the BJP on Tuesday. “I extend my gratitude to the honourable Prime Minister Narendra Modi, home minister Amit Shah, JP Nadda and Punjab BJP president Sunil Jakhar, and the complete leadership for giving me the ticket for Lok Sabha polls from Ludhiana. We will take Ludhiana to new heights with the support and love of people,” he posted on X.
{{/usCountry}}Former Union minister and wife of former Punjab chief minister Amarinder Singh, Kaur joined the BJP on March 14, a year after she was suspended by the Congress for “anti-party activities”. She is the sitting MP from Patiala.
Rinku, the sitting MP from Jalandhar, was renominated by the AAP on March 14. However, he switched to the BJP, accusing the state government of not helping him in the development work.
The BJP fielded India’s former ambassador to the US Taranjit Singh Sandhu from the key seat of Amritsar, which is currently represented by Congress’ Gurjeet Singh Aujla.
In an interview to HT last week, Sandhu said: “I want to contribute to my home city and state and ensure that its residents also get the advantage of the economic resurgence of the world...”
The party also switched the seats of Hans Raj Hans, its sitting MP from North West Delhi, fielding him instead from Faridkot.
“I am extremely thankful to Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi ji, Home Minister Shri Amit Shah ji, Party President Shri Jai Prakash Nadda ji and Punjab President Shri Sunil Jakhar ji for giving me a ticket from Faridkot Lok Sabha after showing confidence in me by the party high command, he said in a post on X.
For the Gurdaspur seat, the BJP replaced sitting MP Sunny Deol with its Rajput face and three-time MLA Dinesh Singh Babbu.