Lok Sabha polls 2019: BJP drops Union minister; names four new faces from Chhattisgarh in first list

RAIPUR: Dropping its sitting Members of Parliament, including union minister Visndhu Deo Sai, Bharatiya Janata Party on Thursday named its five candidates for the Lok Sabha elections from Chhattisgarh.
As per the list announced by the BJP central election committee secretary J P Nadda at New Delhi, Union minister of state for steel and mines Vishnu Deo Sai has been replaced by Gomti Sai to contest for the Raigarh (ST) seat. Gomti Sai is the present of Jashpur zila panchayat.Vishnu Deo Sai is a former president of the state BJP.
Baiduram Kashyap, a former legislator, has been nominated to contest for the Bastar (ST) seat where polling is scheduled to be held in the first phase of elections on April eight. Baiduram Kashyap replaces Dinesh Kashyap, the sitting MP from Maoist affected Bastar region.
Former minister Renuka Singh has been fielded to contest for the Surguja (ST) seat, which is at present being represented by Kamal Bhan Singh in the lok Sabha while Mohan Mandavi will contest for the Kanker (ST) seat. Sitting MP from Kanker Vikram Usendi, who has been made the state BJP president earlier this month, has been dropped.
Guharam Asghale will be the BJP candidate from Janjgir Champa (SC) constituency, which at present is represented by BJP’s Kamla Devi Patle. Mohan Mandavi will be fielded from Kanker.
BJP is yet to take a call on Rajnandgaon, which is also going to polls in the second phase of elections on April 11 and is at present being represented by former chief minster Raman Singh’s son Abhishek Singh. Indications are that BJP vice-president and former chief minister Raman Singh could be fielded from Rajnandgaon.
Stung by its humiliating defeat in the last assembly elections, BJP had earlier announced to drop all its 10 out of 11 sitting MPs from Chhattisgarh and to introduce all new faces in an attempt to beat the anti-incumbency factor and to win maximum number of seats from Chhattisgarh.
However, the announcement had created resentment among a group of MPs, who felt that they had no role to play and almost remained ignored during the state’s BJP regime and now they were being subjected to “political experiment” by dropping all sitting MPs.