BJP’s First Lok Sabha List Sees Fresh faces, New Entrants

When Rajya Sabha terms of 7 Union ministers recently ended and they were not renominated, there was an expectation that they would be asked to contest the Lok Sabha elections. Significantly, at least 5 of them figure in the BJP’s first list of 195 candidates for 2024 Lok Sabha elections along with PM Narendra Modi (Varanasi) and Home Minister Amit Shah (Ahmedabad). Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya is contesting from Porbandar, junior IT Minister Rajeev Chandrasekhar has been pitted against incumbent MP Shashi Tharoor (Thiruvananthapuram), Environment Minister Bhupender Yadav will face-off in Alwar, Fisheries Minister Parshottam Rupala in Rajkot and junior EAM V Muraleedharan will contest from Attingal (Kerala). The party has also tried to fortify its foray into Kerala by fielding actor Suresh Gopi(Thrissur.) and Anil Anthony (Pathanamthitta). What clearly showed that PM Modi is not taking challenges of AAP-Congress alliance in Delhi lightly was the way the party dropped 4 of the 5 sitting MPs. In Chandni Chowk the party decided not to experiment and opted to field Praveen Khandelwal; he heads the traders’ body.  Yet, the biggest surprise of course was in fielding a very young and energetic Bansuri Swaraj, daughter of late Sushma Swaraj for the New Delhi Lok Sabha seat. The complaint against incumbent MP and Union Minister Meenakshi Lekhi was that she remained aloof and inaccessible most of the time. She was known to be rude to the demands of her voters and direct them to councillors. If PM Modi   gave a fresh face for New Delhi, how did Hema Malini pushing 76 managed to get the Mathura Lok Sabha seat? Was it an endorsement of her work in Mathura? Ought to be.