Former international cricketer Gautam Gambhir on Friday joined the BJP and is expected to be fielded in the Lok Sabha polls from one of the seats in the national capital.
The 37-year-old joined the party here in the presence of Union Ministers Arun Jaitley and Ravi Shankar Prasad. The former opening batsman was recently conferred upon the Padma Shri award.
Mr. Gambhir said he was impressed by the vision of PM Narendra Modi and will work for the country’s welfare as a member of the party. “I am joining this party influenced by our Prime Minister, his vision. I have done whatever I could in cricket, and this is a fabulous platform for me to do something really good for this country and take this party forward and make this country a better place to live,” he said.
In another development, the names of three probables, who could be fielded from each of the seven Lok Sabha seats in the Capital, were discussed at back-to-back meetings at the party’s Delhi office.
Insiders claimed that the BJP was preparing to announce the final list of its Delhi candidates on Saturday.
Protest over ‘celebrities’
The BJP’s election committee met amid protests by some members over “celebrities” joining the organisation for ticket ahead of the polls. This was however refuted by other party members.
The meeting was chaired by Delhi BJP chief Manoj Tiwari and attended by Union Defence Minister and Lok Sabha in-charge of Delhi Nirmala Sitharaman and co-in-charge Jaibhan Singh Pawaiya.
“It is a fact that a woman MP did rush out of the meeting rather early but that is about it; there was no ruckus,” a party insider claimed. The insider added that while the final list of candidates to be fielded from Delhi could possibly be announced on Saturday, it may be further delayed, as much as till April 5, if not announced over the weekend.
According to a party leader, Mr. Gambhir’s name did not figure in the list submitted to representatives of the party’s central leadership. This, however, did not mean that the BJP would not field him in the Capital.
“Mr. Gambhir has joined the party at the level of the central leadership; his candidature in the Lok Sabha polls, too, will be decided by it; the Delhi unit has no say because the exercise of screening probable candidates pre-dates his joining the party,” said a source.
The names of all the seven sitting BJP MPs from the Capital, the party source said, had been included in the list which has been submitted to the Central Election Committee for the final selection of candidates.
Party insiders confirmed the presence of all the probable candidates at the Central Election Committee meeting chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the BJP central headquarters later on Friday evening.
Those shortlisted
According to the party, sitting MP Meenakshi Lekhi, Delhi BJP in-charge and national vice-president Shyam Jaju, and Delhi BJP General Secretary Rajesh Bhatia have been shortlisted as probable candidates from the New Delhi seat.
From Chandni Chowk, in addition to sitting MP and Union Minister Harsh Vardhan, Leader of the Opposition in the Delhi Assembly Vijender Gupta and Sudhanshu Mittal made it to the list; in addition to incumbent MP Maheish Girri, Aman Sinha and Delhi BJP MLA from Vishwas Nagar Om Prakash Sharma have been shortlisted from East Delhi.
Meanwhile, North-East Delhi MP Mr. Tiwari, former MLA Mohan Singh Bisht and former Mayor Satya Sharma were on the list; from West Delhi, sitting MP Parvesh Verma, Kamaljeet Sehrawat and Pawan Sharma’s names have been shortlisted.
From South Delhi, the names of sitting MP Ramesh Bidhuri, Ram Veer Bidhuri and Brham Singh Tanwar have been selected, while sitting MP Udit Raj, Ashok Pradhan and Anita Arya have been shortlisted from the North-West reserved seat, according to the party.
(With PTI inputs)