Rajasthan: Former Congress leader Mool Chand Meena rejoins BJP ahead of LS polls
Mar 03, 2024
Jaipur (Rajasthan) [India], March 3 : With the announcement of Lok Sabha polls nearing, the former Congress leader, Mool Chand Meena, rejoined the Bharatiya Janata Party on Sunday.
"Impressed by the efficient leadership and public welfare policies of Prime Minister Narendra Modi Mool Chand Meena rejoined the BJP family today in the presence of State President CP Joshi in the BJP state office," the Rajasthan BJP posted on X.
In 2018, Mool Chand Meena quit the BJP to join Congress and is the former Zila Pramukh of Jaipur.
After quitting the Congress party, Mool Chand Meena said that he was impressed by the efficient leadership and public welfare policies of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Meanwhile, several leaders from the Aam Admi Party and Congress joined the BJP in the presence of Gujarat BJP President CR Patil on Sunday.
Setting the pace ahead of its rivals, the BJP released its first list of 195 candidates for the upcoming Lok Sabha polls on Saturday.
In the first list of 195 candidates, the BJP included 28 women, 47 youth, 27 Scheduled Castes, 18 Scheduled Tribes and 57 OBCs. The party announced 51 candidates in Uttar Pradesh, 24 in Madhya Pradesh, 15 each in Gujarat and Rajasthan, 20 for West Bengal, 12 in Kerala, 11 each for Assam, Chhattisgarh and Jharkhand, nine in Telangana, five for Delhi, two for Jammu and Kashmir, two for Arunachal Pradesh, one for Goa, Andaman and Nicobar Islands and Daman and Diu also.
In Delhi, it has decided to field only Manoj Tiwari, the sitting Lok Sabha member from northeast Delhi, and Union Minister Meenakshi Lekhi has been replaced with young face Basuri Swaraj, daughter of late BJP veteran Sushma Swaraj, from New Delhi; former Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan, has been chosen to contest from Vidisha constituency in the state; and Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla from Kota.
With Prime Minister Modi urging senior ministers from Rajya Sabha to contest Lok Sabha elections, the party fielded Union ministers Bhupender Yadav from Alwar in Rajasthan, Mansukh Mandaviya from Porbandar and Parshottam Rupala from Rajkot (Gujarat), Rajeev Chandrasekhar from Thiruvananthapuram, and V Muraleedharan from Attingal constituency. Another Rajya Sabha member and national vice president of the BJP Saroj Pande will contest from the Korba Lok Sabha constituency in Chhattisgarh. Union Minister Rameshwar Teli is replaced by Cabinet minister and former Assam Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal in Dibrugarh (Assam) constituency.
Union Ministers who are being fielded from their sitting seats are Gajendra Shekhawat in Jodhpur, Smriti Irani in Amethi, S P Singh Baghel in Agra, Sanjeev Balyan in Muzaffarnagar, Ajay Mishra Teni in Kheri, Arjun Ram Meghwal in Bikaner, Sadhvi Niranjan Jyoti in Fatehpur, Subhash Sarkar in Bankura and Nishit Pramanik in Cooch Behar.