'Formula Must Apply to Captain Too': Akhilesh Takes a Dig at BJP After Party Denies Tickets to Sitting MPs

Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav on Wednesday took a swipe at the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), asking if it had conceded defeat in the upcoming Lok Sabha elections and had thus denied tickets to sitting MPs. Yadav, on Twitter, said the formula must apply to the “team captain” too, taking a veiled dig at the top brass of the saffron party.

In a major decision, the BJP Tuesday announced it will drop its all 10 incumbent MPs from Chhattisgarh and replace them with new faces in the Lok Sabha polls, a decision that comes in the wake of the party's drubbing in the recent assembly elections.

BJP General Secretary Anil Jain, also the party affairs in-charge for the state, made the announcement as the BJP's Central Election Committee, which includes Prime Minister Narendra Modi and other top leaders, met here to deliberate over its candidates for the polls.

The announcement underscores the BJP's bid to wrest its lost territory back from the Congress, which handed it a massive defeat in the assembly polls last year.

The Congress had won 68 seats, reducing the tally of the BJP, which was in power in the state for 15 years, to a mere 15. The difference in the vote share of the two parties was a huge 10 per cent.

The BJP is also considering not to field any family member of these sitting MPs, sources said. If the party indeed adopts this criterion, the likely candidature of former chief minister Raman Singh, whose son Abhishek Singh is a sitting Member of Parliament, will also be in question.

The party also denied tickets in Arunachal Pradesh after which two ministers and six MLAs joined the National Peoples' Party (NPP) of Meghalaya chief minister Conrad Sangma ahead of the assembly election next month.

With Prime Minister Narendra Modi known for dropping a number of incumbents in order to beat the anti-incumbency factor, the saffron party has been abuzz with speculation over the fate of its sitting MPs.

It has sought feedback from a number of sources, including the public, and has also asked its MPs to furnish details of the works they have carried out as it finalises its candidates for the upcoming polls.