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| Eyes on Punjab, Uttarakhand, Manipur | | BJP sets in motion candidate selection process | | BL KAK
NEW DELHI, JAN 13
Any action by the Congress party invariably leads to reaction from the rival Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP). No wonder, on seeing the Congress supremo, Sonia Gandhi, busy discussing the prospects of her party in the upcoming Assembly elections, the BJP set in motion a process to select its candidates for the polls in Punjab, Utarakhand and Manipur.
To start with, the BJP is concentrating on Uttarakhand where it sees the best chance of dethroning the Congress party from power. The possibility of victory has, however, created a different kind of problem for the party with the emergence of a large number of claimants for nominations with rival factions backing their own candidates.
Senior BJP leaders from Uttarakhand have come to New Delhi with their own lists and have been lobbying with the central leaders extensively. BJP has set up a screening committee under the chairmanship of leader in charge for the State, Ravi Shankar Prasad.
According to indications available, the BJP may deny nomination to at least half a dozen sitting lawmakers. The party had won 19 out of 70 seats in the 2002 polls as compared to 36 seats won by the Congress party.
The BJP does not want to take chances and wants to nominate new faces with a clean image. It is yet to get over the shock of losing power in Utarakhand in 2002 although in terms of percentage of votes polled, it polled just one per cent less votes than the Cong-ress party.
The BJP in Utarakhand is divided between two major factions headed by State unit chief and former Chief Minister, Bhagat Singh Koshiyari, and former Union Minister, BC Khanduri, as both see themselves as future Chief Ministers.
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