Buzz on S Jaishankar, Nirmala Sitharaman in LS poll fray

By Manish Anand

New Delhi, February 29: The Central Election Committee (CEC) of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is meeting tonight to finalize the first list of the party candidates for the Lok Sabha elections. The CEC of the BJP had unofficially held a marathon deliberation last night. The unofficial meeting was attended by al the members except Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Chief Ministers of the BJP-ruled states are also taking part in the CEC meeting which is being held at the headquarters of the party. The saffron outfit may announce the names of the candidates in phased manner, beginning at the earliest from tomorrow.

The BJP is likely to drop several of the incumbent MPs in the Lok Sabha. This will be in line with the BJP’s penchant to look long into future. The sitting MPs who are in their 70s of the age group are least likely to get the party tickets. The BJP is likely to significantly bring down the average age of the party candidates in the Lok Sabha elections.

The choice of the chief ministers in Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan may act as a primer for observers who are still struggling to get a sense of the BJP being helmed by Modi and Union Minister for Home Affairs Amit Shah. Thus, the BJP, as per the primer, may field a large number of candidates who would be below 55 years of age.

But the corridors of politics in the national capital are buzzing with anticipation about two members of the CCS (the Cabinet Committee on Security) taking electoral plunge for direct elections. Subhramanyam Jaishankar and Nirmala Sitharaman are the talk of the town in the corridors of power for being the potential nominees for the Lok Sabha elections.

Jaishankar has been the most vocal Cabinet minister in the Modi government. He is seen giving speeches at a scale which will be behind Modi only. Jaishankar for a month had looked after the BJP’s outreach on the achievements of the Modi government anniversary last year in parts of the national capital. Delhi BJP chief Virendra Sachdeva had accompanied Jaishankar to several of the constituencies of the city. Jaishankar had taken first hand accounts from the beneficiaries of the schemes of the Modi government.

Sitharaman is also Modi government’s one of the key spokespersons. The BJP had fielded her in the Karnataka Assembly elections for hyper-local canvassing. She has been seen showing her political combative skills on the turf of Tamil Nadu. The BJP leaders are counting constituencies to make it a big in the Tamil Nadu politics.   

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About The Author

Manish Anand

Manish Anand is a senior journalist with more than two decades of hardcore reporting on beats such as Prime Minister’s Office, Parliament, BJP, Congress, Planning Commission, NITI Aayog, and scores of Union Ministries.

His past has been with The New Indian Express, The Asian Age/Deccan Chronicle, and The Statesman.

For about 15 years, Manish was also a regular commentator and host for talks on AIR on foreign affairs.

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