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BJP drops 'old warrior' & MP Shatrughan from Bihar LS list

New Delhi: A day after the Mahagadbandhan announced the seat-sharing pact and names of its candidates for phase 1 polls, the the BJP on Saturday announced 102 more candidates for the Lok Sabha polls, including national spokesman Sambit Patra from Puri, Odisha, Union ministers Narendra Singh Tomar (Morena, MP), Jayant Sinha (Hazaribagh, Jharkhand) and Shripad Naik (North Goa). Anurag Thakur has been renominated from Hamirpur.

The party dropped four sitting MPs to fight anti-incumbency in Maharashtra. The party has dropped Pune MP Anil Shirole who has been replaced by Maharashtra Minister Girish Bapat. In Bihar, the BJP has dropped longtime "party warrior" Shatrughan Sinha from the Patna Sahib Lok Sabha constituency and fielded Union Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad from the Kayastha-dominated seat. Sinha is a two-time sitting MP from Patna Sahib but he has been unhappy with the BJP for the past couple of years.

Sinha has been seen aligned with the Opposition parties in targeting the Narendra Modi Government over issues ranging from demonetisation, GST, farmers' distress, unemployment and allegations of corruption in Rafale deal. In the NDA list, Union Minister Giriraj Singh has been moved from his Nawada seat to Begusarai parliamentary constituency. Notably, Singh had expressed his displeasure over contesting from a new seat.

The Nawada Lok Sabha seat has gone to the LJP as part of the seat-sharing pact and the LJP has fielded Chandan Singh (nephew of strongman Surajbhan Singh) from here. Agriculture Minister Radha Mohan Singh was named NDA candidate from Purvi Champaran. He is the sitting MP.

The NDA's list for Bihar has also taken care of caste equations as the party has fielded 13 candidates from the general category, 12 candidates belonging to the backward community and seven candidates belong to the extremely backward classes. The NDA has fielded three Bhumihar candidates while seven candidates belong to the Rajput community.

In Uttar Pradesh, Pradeep Choudhary will contest from Kairana, which the BJP had lost in the by-polls while Yeshwant has been fielded from Nagina and Bhola Singh from Bulandshahr. Octogenarian party leader and sitting Kangra MP Shanta Kumar has been dropped. Kishan Kapoor will replace him. With Saturday's 102 names, the party has announced 286 candidates.

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