New Delhi, March 30 – The BJP on Saturday released its eighth list for the Lok Sabha elections, naming 11 candidates from Odisha (3), Punjab (6) and West Bengal (2).
In the list, actor and sitting Gurdaspur MP Sunny Deol has been replaced by Dinesh Singh ‘Babbu’, while Delhi MP Hans Raj Hans has been shifted to contest from Punjab’s Faridkot.
The BJP has also shown confidence in leaders who were earlier associated with the Congress, Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), and the Biju Janata Dal (BJD).
The party has fielded Bhartruhari Mahtab, who recently quit the BJD to join the BJP, from Cuttack in Odisha. Similarly, rebel Congress leaders Preneet Kaur and Ravneet Singh Bittu have been fielded from Patiala and Ludhiana, respectively.
Former AAP leader and sitting MP from Jalandhar, Sushil Kumar Rinku, who recently joined the BJP, has been renominated from the seat.
Preneet Kaur is the wife of former Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh, while Ravneet Singh Bittu, a three-time Congress MP, is the grandson of ex-Punjab CM late Beant Singh.
The party has fielded Rabindra Narayan Behera from Odisha’s Jajpur and Sukant Kumar Panigrahi from Kandhamal.
Former diplomat Taranjit Singh Sandhu, who was India’s Ambassador to the US, will be BJP’s candidate from Amritsar.
In West Bengal, the BJP has fielded Pranat Tudu from Jhargram and Debashish Dhar from Birbhum.
stp/sha
