The BJP, on Saturday evening, announced names of the candidates for 15 out of 26 Lok Sabha seats in Gujarat and except for one sitting MP, all have been repeated. The party has tried to play a safe game by repeating all the candidates and also has made an effort to maintain the caste balance on each of the seats. Earlier, LK Advani, sitting MP from Gandhinagar also has been dropped and party chief Amit Shah has replaced him now. Party general secretary JP Nadda announced the names of candidates for Lok Sabha polls to be held on April 23 in the state. He also announced names for Jamnagar Rural, Dhrangadhra and Manavadar assembly by-polls besides the Lok Sabha polls candidates. The party has avoided taking any risk of dropping the sitting MPs on the majority of these seats when the local workers and leaders of the party had represented before the observers to change the sitting MP on different issues. Those include Kutch MP Vinod Chavda, Sabarkantha MP Dipsinh Rathod, Amreli MP Naran Kachhadiya, Bharuch MP Mansukh Vasava and Valsad MP KC Patel, who were believed to be dropped as per the observers' report submitted before Gujarat BJP's parliamentary board meeting held last week. Chavda and Kachhadiya's names were tossed in scams, whereas Mansukh Vasava's outburst against PM Narendra Modi after he was dropped from his cabinet also was believed to be reasons that would have worked against them. Sabarkantha MP Dipsinh Rathod could not work as per the party and people's expectations while KC Patel's reported involvement in sexual abuse of Delhi based woman had become a negative factor for them. Speaking on the issue, party spokesperson Raju Dhruv said, "It is our system to know the opinion of our grass root level workers in the process of the selection of the candidate and some of the workers would have suggested making the changes, but it does not mean that they would be disappointed as all these candidates are also strong ones." The party, however, dropped sitting MP from Surendranagar Devji Fatepara replacing him with Dr Mahendra Munjpara. The Koli community dominates here and looking at the caste factor, the party gave ticket to Koli community leader again from here. Fatepara also remained inactive during his five-year term and could not gain popularity meanwhile as a representative of people to Lok Sabha. The BJP also lost four out of three seats in last assembly polls as Koli community stood by with Congress. Fatepara also was the Koli community leader but hardly he had any hold over his people. Munjpara is a doctor by profession and runs social service activities in this district. He has a good impression over his community and other people as well, having a clean image. His name was believed to be the front runner in the race for a ticket from Surendranagar Lok Sabh a seat. The party is yet to announce names for ten seats and those are Banaskantha, Mehsana, Patan, Ahmedabad East, Junagadh, Porbandar, Panchmahals, Anand, Chhota Udepur and Surat. It is likely that the party may drop many of the sitting MPs from the remaining seats. A party leader said on condition of anonymity, "The possibilities are wide open now. Looking at the first list, almost the sitting MPs have been repeated and now the party can take tough decision for the rest of the seats, or else can repeat them too." THE LIST OF CANDIDATES

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