Poll list: BJP to wait and watch

Gujarat BJP's top brass on Sunday met for three days parliamentary board meeting. The leaders have been discussing political issues with the observers and in charge of each of the Lok Sabha seats. The party sources, however, revealed that the list of the candidates will not be declared in haste.

The meeting was held at chief minister's residence in Gandhinagar. They assessed political equations and received report from observers for 11 seats in South Gujarat and Central Gujarat. The board will meet again and fill in 11 more seats on Monday covering North Gujarat and some of the seats from Saurashtra region. A senior party leader after the conclusion of the first day of meeting said, "The party is confident that our candidates will win over all 26 seats but we need to wait and not hurry in announcing the names. The socio-political equations have changed and candidates should be comfortable with this situation. We have to see that which candidate Congress is fielding for. Wrong selection of candidate could make us lose the seat."

He further added, "Some of the sitting MPs may not be repeated but the party has not taken any final call on the same. If the situation does not allow us to change candidates, they may be repeated. The OBC and Patel community bears great importance and if one faction in these communities is at distress, our calculations may fall flat and therefore there is no clarity at this point of time."

The observers, however, have warned the party leaders for changing several candidates as they received representation from party workers accordingly. One observer said, "The panel of three observers and three in-charge for each of the Lok Sabha seats were present before the parliamentary board. We all have given our genuine opinion on the political issues for the seats assigned. When we visited our concerned constituency, the voice against sitting MP was louder and we have expressed our concern to the board."

"The parliamentary board of state also will send their report to central parliamentary board. The party leaders at the state level, however, did not agree on the opinion to change candidates except for three to four members who seemed okay with it. So, there are less chances of no repeat theory," said a party leader who visited one of the constituencies as observer said.

BJP NOT IN HASTE

The BJP party sources, however, revealed that the list of the candidates will not be declared in haste.

The meeting was held at chief minister’s residence in Gandhinagar. They assessed political equations and received report from observers for 11 seats in South Gujarat and Central Gujarat.