The Bharatiya Janata Party is actively considering as many as eight members of Parliament to field in the upcoming Rajasthan assembly election, sources told News18 on Monday. At least two of them are central ministers. On Sunday night, the BJP held a meeting of its Central Election Committee (CEC)—the body that decides who will be given party tickets and from which seats. The party is believed to have given its stamp on 39 seats from the desert state.
Here’s a look at the eight names that are likely to be asked to take the plunge in the assembly polls and the possible seats:
1. MP from Barmer-Jaisalmer and Union Minister of State for Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare Kailash Choudhary is tipped to be among the likely faces whom the BJP is considering trying in the state polls in Rajasthan. The BJP may field him from either the Barmer or Pachpadra seat. Choudhary fought as an MLA in 2018 from Baitu but lost. Thereafter, he contested for Lok Sabha the next year and won.
2. A key face in the Modi cabinet who was given additional charge of Law and Justice when Kiren Rijiju was moved out of the portfolio, Arjun Ram Meghwal’s name is also under active consideration for the forthcoming Rajasthan polls, say BJP sources. The MP from Bikaner may be fielded from the Khajuwala assembly seat. Meghwal, who also holds the important portfolios of Parliamentary Affairs and Culture, proudly wears a Rajasthani turban around the year.
3. The third name that is prominently doing the rounds in the Rajasthan BJP corridors is Diya Kumari who is the MP from Rajsamand. She is being considered from Hawa Mahal in Jaipur City. Kumari is from Jaipur’s royal lineage and has been an MLA from Sawai Madhopur seat where the royals still hold a lot of sway.
4. Alwar MP Mahant Balaknath is also the BJP’s Rajasthan vice president. The saffron-clad BJP leader is also likely to be fielded in the upcoming state polls. The buzz in the BJP is that the party has shortlisted Behror for him.
5. Shri Ganganagar is at the India-Pakistan border. Nihal Chand Meghwal is the MP from this Lok Sabha constituency and may be fielded from the Raisinghnagar seat. He has been an MLA from the assembly seat in the past and that is why it is being considered for Meghwal, should the BJP CEC clear his name.
6. Tonk may be Congress leader Sachin Pilot’s home turf, but the Lok Sabha constituency, i.e., Tonk-Sawai Madhopur, went to the BJP in 2019. Its MP Sukhbir Singh Jaunapuria who won the Lok Sabha constituency with a margin of 1,11,291 votes by defeating Namo Narain Meena of the Congress in 2019 is also on the BJP’s radar for the state polls this time. He is likely to be fielded either from the Deoli-Uniara or Kotputli seat.
7. Though not among the first considerations, BJP is also open to asking its Jhunjhunu MP Narendra Kumar to contest the Rajasthan election, say sources. BJP Rajasthan has also shortlisted the Mandawa assembly seat for him and his name finds a place among the recommendations the state unit sent to the Sunday CEC.
8. The sole BJP Rajya Sabha member whose name is also doing the rounds to fight it out in the electoral fray this time and that too when the BJP is in the opposition is Dr Kirodi Lal Meena. A former cabinet minister in the Rajasthan government, Meena has been MLA five times before. He is also a well-known face from the Meena community. The Rajya Sabha lawmaker may be asked to fight from the Sapotra seat that the Congress has won twice consecutively.
Earlier, in a surprise move, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) fielded a number of its union ministers and a total of seven Members of Parliament for the upcoming Madhya Pradesh assembly election. Union ministers Narendra Singh Tomar, Prahlad Singh Patel, and Faggan Singh Kulaste featured in the second list of 39 candidates for the state polls, which was released by the party.
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