PM’S STAND ON ‘NO TICKET FOR RELATIVES’ MAY TROUBLE MANY

NEWDELHI: Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s advice to BJP leaders against seeking poll tickets for relatives may spring trouble for many who are close to heavyweight leaders, mostly in Uttar Pradesh.

Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Punjab, Goa and Manipur will have poll between February and March. The BJP’s central election committee decided candidates for Punjab and Goa on Wednesday while another meeting on February 15 will decide candidates for the other states.

If the party goes by Modi’s words, the fate of at least a dozen candidates related to party veterans could be in jeopardy.

BJP sources claimed Union minister Kalraj Mishra wants his son Amit Mishra to make electoral debut. So is Gonda MP Brajbhushan Sharan Singh who wants ticket for his son Prateek Bhushan. Kairana MP Hakum Singh and Muradabad MP Kunwar Sarvesh Singh also want ticket for their relatives.

Rajasthan governor Kalyan Singh, whose son is MP from Etah, wants his grandson to contest. His daughter-in-law has been a legislator. “Since the PM has spoken his mind, some of these candidates will have to go through intense scrutiny,” a member of BJP’s poll panel said.

The party is also dealing with demands from turncoats who joined it recently. BJP leaders said former BSP leader Swami Prasad Maurya’s son and daughter are eyeing BJP nomination. Another former BSP leader Brajesh Pathak wants ticket for his wife . Rita Bahuguna Joshi, the former chief of UP Congress, too, wants her son to make electoral debut as BJP candidate.