Sehwag no to BJP ticket, Gambhir among probables for New Delhi?

Declaration of candidates expected by early next month

Virender Sehwag.

Former cricketer Virender Sehwag has declined to contest the upcoming Lok Sabha polls on a Bharatiya Janata Party ticket, insiders have said.

On the other hand, another former cricketer, Gautam Gambhir, is being “seriously” considered for the New Delhi Lok Sabha seat by the party, they said.

Due to personal reasons

The BJP had reached out to Mr. Sehwag with a ticket from the West Delhi constituency, which he has declined citing “personal reasons”, said sources.

“Sehwag said he would rather that his sister, who is active in politics as a councillor from the area under the West Delhi Parliamentary constituency, represents the family there,” said a party source.

“We are in the process of assessing the candidature of Mr. Gambhir, who met with the Resident Welfare Associations [RWAs] in the Defence Colony earlier this week. He could be fielded from New Delhi,” said another party source.

Meanwhile, even as party insiders claimed the process of deciding on tickets for the seven Parliamentary seats had “somewhat slowed down” given that the Capital would go to the polls in the sixth phase to be conducted on May 12, the Delhi unit of the BJP had suggested two alternative candidates be fielded from each of these as per instructions from the party high command.

While the candidature of sitting MP Pravesh Verma had been “more or less decided upon” after Mr. Sehwag’s decision and the party was also confident of sitting South Delhi MP Ramesh Bidhuri’s candidature, sources claimed Monika Arora was one of the “alternatives” from New Delhi apart from Mr. Gambhir.

Similarly, former Delhi Mayor Anita Arya was being considered from the North West Delhi seat. From North East Delhi, which is Delhi BJP chief Manoj Tiwari’s home turf, former MLA Mohan Singh Bisht and former Mayor Satya Sharma had been suggested as alternative candidates.

With the party having “more or less” decided upon fielding Union Minister Harsh Vardhan from the East Delhi seat, leaders being considered to take his place at the Chandni Chowk constituency consist of Union Minister Vijay Goel, Sudhanshu Mittal and Leader of Opposition in the Delhi Assembly and Rohini MLA Vijender Gupta.

“We expect the declaration of candidates by early April,” a party leader said.