Large hoardings welcoming senior BJP leader L.K. Advani to Bhopal appeared across the capital on Wednesday. The hoardings have been signed “BJP workers, Bhopal.” They were put up even as the party’s Central Election Committee met in Delhi to decide the candidates for many seats, including Bhopal, for the Lok Sabha election.
Speculation has been rife for some time now that Mr. Advani wishes to shift from Gandhinagar to Bhopal.
Bhopal MP Kailash Joshi recently announced that he would not contest this time and hoped that Mr. Advani would contest from here. The seat has been held by the BJP since 1989.
Several others, including Rajya Sabha MP Anil Dave, the BJP district president Alok Sharma, Bhopal Mayor Krishna Gaur and senior leader Vikram Verma are being considered for the seat. Mr. Sharma told The Hindu that the hoardings were not officially sanctioned. “Some emotional workers who have been seeing the news on TV put them up,” he said.
The Congress has fielded its Bhopal city president P.C. Sharma, while the CPI has fielded its district president Shailendra Shaili. The BSP has put up the former Lok Janshakti Party leader, Sunil Borse. Mr. Borse was expelled from the BSP in 2003.
The Aam Aadmi Party has fielded activist Rachna Dhingra, who has been working with the gas tragedy victims, from the constituency.
