Tickets with a tag, BJP style

NEW DELHI, NOV 5: The BJP has played it safe and renominated a majority of the party's sitting MLAs in Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Delhi. ...

NEW DELHI, NOV 5: The BJP has played it safe and renominated a majority of the party’s sitting MLAs in Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Delhi. However, the inclusion of an unprecedented number of relatives of top leaders, particularly in MP, has raised eyebrows given the BJP’s public stand against nepotism.

Though tomorrow is the last date for filing nominations, the party’s central election committee was unable, until late tonight, to complete its candidate list for faction-ridden Delhi and Rajasthan, where a fierce fight is on for tickets.

The BJP has accommodated the kith and kin of several top leaders, in some cases replacing the sitting MLA. In MP, Prime Minister Vajpayee’s niece Karuna Shukla and nephew Anoop Mishra, Vijayaraje Scindia’s daughter Yashodhara Raje (who has been accommodated at the cost of a sitting MLA) and brother Dhyanendra Singh figure in the list. So does the brother of Union Minister of Steel and Mines Ramesh Bais.

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Other VIP relatives who have made it to the list include formerchief minister Sunderlal Patwa’s cousin, Dilip Singh Bhuria’s daughter and former state unit president Lakhiram Agarwal’s son. The party today finalised all but two of its candidates for the 320-seat Madhya Pradesh assembly, but was struggling to complete its list in Delhi (20 seats remaining) and Rajasthan (86). The Akali Dal, which was demanding five seats from the BJP, announced that it would not contest any seats in Delhi but would support the BJP candidates.

VIP relatives

Karuna Shukla – Vajpayee’s niece

Anoop Mishra – Vajpayee’s nephew

Yashodhara Raje – Vijayaraje Scindia’s daughter

Dhyanendra Singh – Vijayaraje Scindia’s brother

Mangal Patwa – Sunderlal Patwa’s cousin

Shyam Bais – Ramesh Bais’s brother

Amar Agarwal – Lakhiram Agarwal’s son

Nirmala Bhuria – Dilip Singh Bhuria’s duaghter.