Battlelines drawn in BJP for Assembly by-poll tickets

According to a BJP worker,Tandon has been lobbying for his son since the time he was declared the candidate for the Lucknow Lok Sabha seat.

He made it a point to keep Gopal on the forefront during his campaign,especially in areas which fall under the Lucknow West Assembly constituency.

Several others,including some who are close to Tandon,are also in the race. They include former deputy mayor Abhay Seth,corporator Ramesh Kapoor Baba,Ram Kumar Shukla (legislator from the same seat before Tandon),Amit Puri (left the party to contest elections as an independent but later came back),Vinod Vajpayi,Siyaram Jaiswal and BJP’s state press secretary Hero Bajpai.

“Tandon keeps talking about parivarvaad in parties like the Congress and the SP. But look what he is doing himself,” said a leader.

Though Tandon prefers diplomacy,he hints that his son is the most suitable candidate. “He has been serving the people quite actively not just as my son,but individually as well. Also,the people know him very well. It is now up to the party to take the final decision,” Tandon said.

The party is also looking for a suitable candidate in neighbouring Malihabad,which may also see a by-poll since its SP legislator Gaurishankar had decided to contest the Lok Sabha elections from Etawah on a BSP ticket. Gaurishankar may be disqualified or asked to resign. Former deputy mayor Diwakar Seth and Ram Avatar Kannaujiya are the two contenders for the BJP ticket now.

In Varanasi,Kolasala Assembly seat is also going to fall vacant because BJP legislator Ajay Rai had joined the SP to contest the Lok Sabha elections against Murli Manohar Joshi from Varanasi.

In this constituency,the contenders are Purnmashi Verma,Sankata Patel,city president Rakesh Senger and a young Bhumihar party leader Vinit Singh.

“The matter has not been taken up yet. It will be for the Central Board to take up the issue. All probable candidates will be discussed before the final name is decided,” said BJP state vice-president and spokesperson H N Dixit.