BJP To Retain Maneka Gandhi, Varun For Lok Sabha Polls? Here’s What We Know

Ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is gearing up to announce candidates for 25 out of the 80 seats in Uttar Pradesh. A meeting was held at the BJP headquarters in Delhi on Monday evening to deliberate on the announcement of candidates for these remaining seats in Uttar Pradesh. The UP core committee met at the BJP’s central office in Delhi to discuss the panel of candidates for the remaining seats. Several seats were discussed and it is believed that new candidates will be fielded on the second list.

Among these seats, Pilibhit and Sultanpur Lok Sabha constituencies were also discussed. Both former union minister Maneka Gandhi and her son Varun Gandhi, who are BJP MPs from these constituencies, were subjects of discussion.

BJP Wants To Replace Varun Gandhi As Candidate From Pilibhit Seat?

During the core committee meeting, deliberations were held on whether to field Maneka Gandhi or her son Varun Gandhi as candidates for the upcoming elections. According to sources, the party wishes to field one of them as a candidate, but Menaka wants her son to be on the ticket too. The party is considering fielding Menaka from Sultanpur, while deliberations are ongoing for Varun Gandhi’s replacement in Pilibhit, with Jitin Prasada or Union Minister BL Verma being considered.

Notably, Varun Gandhi in recent years has openly criticised the BJP and the Uttar Pradesh government over various issues including agrarian woes.

The BJP core committee meeting discussed approximately 15 seats. Discussion was held on the Raebareli seat, from where Samajwadi Party MLA Manoj Pandey and current Uttar Pradesh government minister Dinesh Singh’s names were also discussed. Discussion took place on the Prayagraj seat, where former bureaucrat Sanjay Mishra and former Allahabad Municipal Corporation mayor Abhilasha Gupta Nandi’s names were considered.

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Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh’s Kin For Kaiserganj Seat, Arun Govil & Kumar Vishwas Considered For Meerut

Regarding the Kaiserganj seat, deliberations were held on the names of Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh’s wife Ketaki Devi Singh, or their son Karan Bhushan Singh. For the Meerut seat, actor Arun Govil, poet Kumar Vishwas, and incumbent MLA Amit Agarwal are being considered as candidates.

On the Ghaziabad seat, current MP General VK Singh, Anil Agarwal, or Anil Jain’s candidature was being mulled. Discussion took place on the Gazipur seat, where Jammu and Kashmir Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha’s son Abhinav Sinha is being considered as a candidate, and another senior BJP leader’s name was also deliberated.

The names of Neeraj Shekhar and Anand Swaroop Shukla were discussed for Ballia along with the current MP Virendra Singh Mast.

It was deliberated that Uttar Pradesh Government Tourism Minister Jaiveer Singh could be fielded from the Mainpuri seat and former minister Suresh Rana or Raghav Lakhanpal from the Saharanpur seat. Barabanki MP Upendra Rawat’s replacement as candidate was also discussed.