BJP drops 17 sitting MPs in UP

Shahira Naim

Tribune News Service

Lucknow, March 26

Besides senior leader and Kanpur sitting MP Murli Manohar Joshi, the BJP has not given ticket to 16 sitting MPs and has shifted the seats of four in the list of 61 candidates from UP released so far.

In the list of 29 candidates released on Tuesday, six have been replaced. Among the veterans who have been dropped besides Joshi are Uma Bharti from Jhansi and Kalraj Misra from Deoria.

Besides, seats of the mother-son duo of Maneka Gandhi and Varun Gandhi have been swapped. Varun, considered soft towards cousins Rahul and Priyanka, has been shifted out of the family bastion of Sultanpur adjacent to Amethi and Rae Bareli and replaced by his mother.

Rita Bahuguna Joshi, who as a Congress candidate had given a tough fight to BJP’s Rajnath Singh in Lucknow in 2014, is now the BJP candidate from Allahabad.

Satyadev Pachauri, Govind Nagar (Kanpur) MLA and minister in CM Yogi’s government, replaces BJP veteran Murli Manohar Joshi in Kanpur.

Kushinagar sitting MP Rakesh Pandey has been replaced by Vijay Dube, considered close to Yogi Adityanath who had won from Khadda Vidhan Sabha constituency in Kushinagar on a Congress ticket in 2012 and later joined the BJP.

In Rampur, Jaya Prada replaced sitting MP Naipal Singh. Sitting Agra (SC) MP Ramashankar Katheriya, who is also the Chairperson of the National Commission for Scheduled Castes, has been shifted to Etawah (SC) seat where Ashok Dohrey was the sitting MP.

In Ballia, sitting MP Bharat Singh has been replaced by Bhadohi sitting MP Virendra Singh Mast who is the state president of BJP Kisan Morcha. He had started “Gaon Chalo Abhiyaan” to promote awareness among farmers and villagers, especially in the field of agriculture. His being shifted from Bhadohi strengthens the speculation that the seat may go to an NDA alliance partner.

BJP’s Zaidpur Vidhan Sabha (Barabanki) MLA Upendra Rawat replaces sitting MP Priyanka Singh Rawat who had been in the news for all the wrong reasons. She was caught on camera threatening to “skin alive” a police officer who had allegedly misbehaved with her regarding a murder investigation. She had also been reprimanded by the PM for shooting a meeting with MPs on her mobile when specifically instructed not to so.

Other sitting MPs dropped in the earlier lists are Satyapal Saini from Sambhal, Rajesh Diwakar from Hathras (SC), Anshul Verma from Hardoi (SC), Krishna Raj from Shahjahanpur (SC) and Anju Bala friom Mishrikh (SC).

Bahriach (SC) sitting MP Sadhvi Savitir Bai Phule had quit the BJP and joined the Congress and is now contesting from Bahriach on a Congress ticket.

Allahabad sitting MP Shyam Charan Gupt has quit the BJP and joined the SP and is contesting from Banda.