Haryana BJP puts forward its Lok Sabha list: All sitting MPs, some big faces who lost 2019 Assembly polls

ALL THE sitting MPs of the BJP from Haryana as well as several of its stalwarts who lost the 2019 Assembly polls are among the names put forward by the state leadership for the coming Lok Sabha elections.

The state BJP held a meeting in New Delhi Thursday, ahead of the party’s Central Election Committee meeting, where a panel of contestants for Haryana’s 10 Lok Sabha seats was decided.

In 2019, the BJP had won all the 10 seats. But the Ambala seat is vacant after the death of Rattan Lal Kataria in May 2023.

Sources said that at the meeting, a decision was also taken that the BJP should contest the Lok Sabha polls alone, and not in alliance with the Dushyant Chautala-led Jannayak Janta Party (JJP), the party’s partner in the state government.

There has been uncertainty over whether the two parties, which came together after the 2019 Assembly results left the BJP short of a majority, would have a pre-poll alliance.

Asked about the BJP’s decision, Dushyant Chautala told reporters in Chandigarh: “It (the alliance) is not for me or anybody else to decide. The final decision shall be taken at a meeting of the NDA.” Later, the JJP announced a meeting of the party in Karnal on March 3 to decide its course of action for the Lok Sabha polls.

For the BJP, the dilemma is whether to go with its sitting MPs or field new faces, with the final decision to be taken by the party high command.

Thursday’s meeting was chaired by Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar, BJP state in-charge Biplab Deb and state chief Nayab Saini, and was attended by top leaders, including Birender Singh, Capt Abhimanyu, and former state chiefs Om Prakash Dhankar and Subhash Barala.

The nine sitting MPs whose names were shortlisted at the meeting include Saini