Hyderabad: As the BJP wants to give a serious fight in VIP seats, the names of Ms Uma Bharti and Ms Smriti Irani are doing the rounds. Ms Irani is considered close to BJP PM candidate Narendra Modi. Baba Ramdev, in a press conference Wednesday, asked the BJP leadership to field Ms Bharti from Rae Bareli. Sources said though talks are on in the BJP, the leadership is yet to take a final call on these two seats.
Sources said Ramdev wanted one of his candidates, a member of the family famous for ayurvedic products, to be fielded from Jhansi, but the BJP refused and fielded Ms Bharti. While speculation is rife that Ms Bharti may be shifted to Rae Bareli or asked to contest both seats, the BJP’s poll managers don’t want her shifted from Jhansi as that constituency has a significant number of OBC votes and Ms Bharti is considered a prominent Lodh face.
Sources said that besides Jhansi itself, adjoining seats in the Bundelkhand region, including Bhind, Jalaun, Guna and Hamirpur, will be influenced by Ms Bharti’s presence in the region. Another significant votebank, of brahmins, may also favour Ms Bharti as she is a “sadhvi”, sources said.
BJP Parliamentary Board member and MP Mr M. Venkaiah Naidu affirmed that names of Ms Irani and Ms Bharti were doing the rounds. “Yes, it’s true. We have received suggestions to field 'Kyunki Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi' actor Smriti Irani, or Uma Bharti against Ms Sonia Gandhi,” he said.
Mr Venkaiah Naidu called the Congress party’s election manifesto a “document of deceit, another fraud committed on people and lacks credibility. It’s an absolute betrayal of promises made in 2004 and 2009.”
In Rajasthan Mahant Chandnath and Swami Sumedhanand, who were given Lok Sabha tickets from Rajasthan by the BJP after Yoga guru Ramdev pushed the party, are now facing opposition as they originally belong to Haryana. The local party leaders said that they are against fielding outsiders.
