New Delhi, Jan 22: To concentrate on the party`s
election campaign, some prominent BJP leaders, including
former party president Venkiah Naidu, will not contest the
forthcoming Lok Sabha polls.
"I and Sushma Swaraj will not be contesting this time. We
will be concentrating on the coordination of the party`s
election campaign," Naidu told reporters here today.
There is possibility of Arun Jaitley contesting the
elections, although there is also demand from the party`s
Delhi unit asking him to join the fray from the capital, he
said.
Naidu, Swaraj and Jaitley are members of Rajya Sabha
presently.
The saffron party is also looking ahead to declare almost
all the candidates by the middle of February before the end of
the last session of the Lok Sabha.
"Most of the seats would be decided in the two-day
Central Election Committee meet starting on January 28. Rest
of the candidates would be finalised by mid-Feb," Naidu said.
He also criticized Congress spokesperson Jayanti
Natarajan for calling BJP a "sinking ship" owing to the
quitting of some of its leaders in the last one month.
"Jayanti Natarajan should understand that her own party
is a sinking ship and it has lost elections after election
with some relief in Delhi. Many of its allies have left them,
now it is for the people to decide that which party is a
sinking ship," Naidu said.
Some of the former diplomats, former defense officers
and many others have informed their willingness to join BJP
and they would be doing so in the days to come, he said.
Bureau Report
