BJP to announce final list of candidates today

NEW DELHI, AUG 9: Hectic parleys have started between the Bharatiya Janata Party BJP and United Janata Dal leaders to finalise seat sha...

NEW DELHI, AUG 9: Hectic parleys have started between the Bharatiya Janata Party BJP and United Janata Dal leaders to finalise seat sharing on the eve of two-day Central Election Committee meeting of the BJP to announce almost all of its candidates.

George Fernandes called on the BJP president Kushabhau Thakre and BJP incharge of Bihar affairs Kailashpati Mishra yesterday while Thakre spoke to Ram Krishna Hegde on phone today and everyone agreed that the time for posturing was over and they had to speed up the seat sharing talks.

The party has already released a list of 138 candidates at the CEC meeting held last week and was likely to announce the remaining 235 names after the two-day meet starting tomorrow.

The BJP leaders are hardpressed to resolve seat-sharing tangle not only with UJD in Bihar and Karnataka but also with TDP in Andhra Pradesh and with its allies in Uttar Pradesh.

The BJP leaders confirmed that TDP president N Chandrababu Naidu was rushing here tomorrow to finalise seat-sharing with BJP for both Lok Sabha and Assembly seats. Naidu does not have much problem in parting with seven-eight Lok Sabha seats for the BJP but was not ready to give away many Assembly seats, they said.

The most-striking change in BJP leaders8217; posture after the EC8217;s verdict on factional feud in the JD, was that now they are ready to welcome UJD in the NDA fold with its new symbol, arrow. Earlier, they protested against Samata and Lok Shakti8217;s decision to merge in Janata Dal Sharad.

The BJP was demanding at least 10 out of a total of 40 Parliamentary seats in Andhra Pradesh and 80 out of total 290 Assembly seats. But Naidu was ready to part with only seven-eight Lok Sabha seats and 15-20 Assembly seats, they claimed.

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In Karnataka, the BJP contested 18 Lok Sabha seats last year leaving 10 for Lok Shakti. With Lok Shakti merging into UJD, it was demanding two more seats which BJP was unlikely to concede. BJP may however, concede some more seats to UJD for Assembly polls, a senior BJP leader said.

Similarly, the party had scaled down its claim in Bihar from 32 seats to 29 out of a total 54 Lok Sabha seats. Their logic: BJP won 20 seats in 1998, lost four 8211; Katihar, Kishanganj, Madhubani and Darbhanga 8211; by a narrow margin and had lost five others by a wafer-thin margin in 1996. 8220;We can talk to UJD leaders across the table on seat to seat basis8221;, said BJP in-charge of Bihar affairs, Kailashpati Mishra.

The party was ready to spare 10 out of a total 85 seats for its allies Samata Party, Jantantrik BSP, Loktantrik Congress Party and an independent Maneka Gandhi, BJP leaders said. However, the party would take a final decision on seat sharing during CEC starting tomorrow. And that could well be an ultimatum to its allies as well.