Raina likely BJP candidate from Rajouri-Anantnag LS seat?

Jammu, Mar 11: “We, in the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), have a different system; a different culture. We don’t give credence to speculations. We have an appropriate authority i.e., Parliamentary Board to take decisions with regard to selection of candidates for Lok Sabha polls. It will take a final call. State or UT units only give feedback.”

This was the assertion of J&K BJP chief spokesperson Sunil Sethi, when Greater Kashmir Monday posed a direct query vis-à-vis reports about the party’s decision to field its UT president Ravinder Raina from the crucial Rajouri-Anantnag seat.

“We don’t go by speculations. Our Parliamentary Board, comprising our national president J P Nadda; Prime Minister Narendra Modi; Defence Minister Rajnath Singh; Union Home Minister Amit Shah and few other members, takes a final decision. We don’t submit a list of probable candidates. It’s just that our state or UT units give feedback to the central leadership or say Board. Relying on that, a final call is taken by the Board. Soon, the decision on this account will be out,” he said.

Asked to comment on another speculation about party mulling to field former Deputy Chief Minister Muzaffar Hussain Baig from Baramulla Lok Sabha seat or to support his candidature as an independent, Sethi’s response was precise.

“As of now, we are going to contest on our own. Party is to field its own candidate; this is the status at the moment,” he said.

Earlier, the party had nominated its sitting MPs Dr Jitendra Singh and Jugal Kishore Sharma as its Lok Sabha candidates from Udhampur and Jammu constituencies respectively in the electoral battle of 2024.

Their names were in the first list of 195 candidates, including the Prime Minister Narendra, Union Home Minister Amit Shah and the Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, issued by BJP Central Election Committee (CEC) on March 2.