The BJP is expected to release a first list of candidates – around 100 names, which will include heavyweights like Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah – for the 2024 Lok Sabha election later today, after marathon overnight meetings in Delhi, including one led by the Prime Minister at his Delhi residence that began 11 pm Thursday and finished at 4 am Friday.

Sources have told NDTV the BJP’s strategy, as it bids for a third term, revolves around getting feedback on sitting MPs’ – including but not limited to discussions with grassroots-level workers and voters in their constituencies – and a tactical reshuffle to eliminate the anti-incumbency bias.

Sources also said last night the party intends to name a chunk of its candidates, not including those from National Democratic Alliance allies, well before poll dates are announced to ramp up pressure on its main (only) rival – the Congress-led INDIA bloc, which has still not finished seat-share deals.

Hindi Heartland, South Focus

NDTV was told the Thursday night-Friday morning meet would focus on candidates for the Hindi heartland states of UP, Uttarakhand, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, and Rajasthan, as well as Mr Modi’s home state of Gujarat. Also in focus were the southern states of Kerala – where the BJP has traditionally been a non-entity – and Telangana, where it was routed by the Congress last year.

READ | PM Leads BJP’s Midnight Meet To Decide Lok Sabha Candidates

A decision for other states, including Andhra Pradesh, Punjab, and Tamil Nadu, have been put on hold pending alliance talks with regional parties. In the latter two states the BJP is hoping to re-establish ties with the Akali Dal and the AIADMK, while in the former it must choose between the ruling YSR Congress Party and the Telugu Desam Party-Jana Sena alliance.

PM Modi, Amit Shah In First List?

In any case, the list is not due before noon, but it is likely Mr Modi will return to defend his seat in Uttar Pradesh’s Varanasi, which has been a BJP bastion since 1991 (save a Congress win in 2004).

He claimed dominant wins here in 2014 and 2019, winning the first election by 3.7 lakh votes and the second by nearly 4.8 lakh. There was speculation the Prime Minister’s hat-trick bid could be challenged by the INDIA bloc, with Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra a possible candidate.

The other possible candidate was Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, but that has been ruled out since the Janata Dal (United) boss – a founding member of INDIA – has now re-allied with the BJP.

READ | Public Feedback, Tech: How BJP Is Picking Lok Sabha Poll Candidates

Ms Gandhi Vadra’s (long-awaited) electoral debut – there was talk she would run in the 2019 election too – has not been confirmed yet, and the stepping down of Congress matriarch Sonia Gandhi from the party’s Raebareli stronghold has opened up a possible perfect unveiling op for the party.

Amit Shah, meanwhile, could be fielded from Gujarat’s Gandhinagar.

The BJP has held the seat – which has sent stalwarts like LK Advani and former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee to the Lok Sabha – since 1989. Mr Shah won this seat in 2019 – he recorded a dominant win, beating the Congress’ Chaturainh Chavda by over 5.5 lakh votes.

Other Big Names?

Amit Shah’s cabinet colleagues – Defence Minister Rajnath Singh and Aviation Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia – may contest from Lucknow and Guna-Shivpuri in Madhya Pradesh, respectively.

Like Gandhinagar, the UP capital is a BJP stronghold.

Mr Vajpayee held this seat from 1991 to 2004 and Rajnath Singh has held it since 2014, seeing off the Congress’ Rita Bahugana Joshi and the Samajwadi Party’s Poonam Sinha.

Mr Scindia’s expected seat in Madhya Pradesh is seen as sure thing since it is his family citadel. The Scindia royal family has won this seat 14 times since the first election in 1952.

Jyotiraditya Scindia held this seat between 2002 (a bypoll necessitated by his father Madhavrao Scindia’s death) and 2014, but that was as a member of the Congress. After his controversial cross-over, he surrendered the seat and was instead nominated to a Rajya Sabha seat from the state.

In 2019 the seat was won by the BJP’s Krishna Pal Yadav.

Others who may be named in the first list are former Assam Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal from Assam’s Dibrugarh, a seat he won in 2004 (when with the Asom Gana Parishad).

READ | BJP To Contest 11 Lok Sabha Seats In Assam, 3 For Allies

Across Assam the BJP will contest 11 seats, leaving three for its allies – the Asom Gana Parishad and United People’s Party Liberal, Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said Thursday.

No Pragya Thakur, Shivraj Chouhan Returns?

There are likely to be some surprises too, with buzz fiery Bhopal MP Pragya Thakur will not return to defend her seat, which was offered to ex-Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan.

Mr Chouhan – sacked after the BJP’s Assembly poll win last year, despite his welfare measures, particularly the ‘Laadli Behna’ scheme, ensuring the party retained the state – reportedly refused the seat, and said he wants to contest from his home district of Vidisha.

The former Chief Minister is a five-time winner from the seat – from 1991 to 2004 – that has also been a BJP fortress; the saffron party has held Vidisha since 1989.

Room For Allies

The meeting also likely saw talks about leaving six seats in politically key Uttar Pradesh, which sends 80 MPs to the Lok Sabha, for regional allies like the Apna Dal and the Rashtriya Lok Dal of Jayant Chaudhary, which the BJP reportedly won over from INDIA despite their January agreement.

Overall, the plan is to name at least 50 per cent of its candidates by March 10. In 2019 the party did the same thing; it revealed 164 candidates on March 21, weeks before dates were announced.

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Four people were injured in an explosion at a cafe in Bengaluru’s Kundalahalli today, the police said.

The police said they are trying to find out what caused the explosion at The Rameshwaram Cafe, a popular restaurant in the neighbourhood.

Three of the injured people are employees of the cafe, the police said.

More details are awaited.

The Congress remains on alert in Himachal Pradesh – a state it almost lost after Tuesday’s Rajya Sabha election loss left its government on the brink of collapse – following reports that Vikramaditya Singh on Thursday night met six rebel MLAs whose cross-voting triggered this political storm.

Mr Singh – the son of six-time former Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh – did not cross-vote but his emotional outburst on the day, in which he accused the Congress of disrespecting the memory of his father, was an added challenge for the party as it fought off rival Bharatiya Janata Party’s attacks.

Himachal’s Urban Development Minister is in Delhi for two days to meet the Union Road and Transport Ministry. Sources said he met the rebel MLAs – who this morning moved the Himachal Pradesh High Court against their disqualification – in Panchkula, which is in BJP-ruled Haryana.

He is likely to meet the MLAs – who have since moved to The Lalit in Chandigarh – again on Sunday, on his way back to Shimla, sources said.

Sources also said two other Himachal Pradesh Congress MLAs have also met the rebels.

Neither side has yet commented on the subject of these discussions.

Mr Singh’s mother, Pratibha Singh, the Congress’ state unit boss, told news agency ANI she has “no idea” of her son’s schedule. “He was here till last night. What he did after… I don’t know.”

Amid speculation the Singh family is biding time before it challenges the Congress’ chief ministerial pick, Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu, for control of the state government, Ms Singh also said she will meet the party’s behind-the-scenes boss – Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi – to “keep them informed”.

READ | “MLAs Are Upset, Natural…”: Himachal Congress Chief On Cross-Voting

“Definitely. They are our high command and we have to go and apprise them… that this is the situation now in Himachal Pradesh and (they can) tell us what to do,” she said.

Further comments by Ms Singh – including telling ANI “… it is true that the BJP’s (government) is working better than ours” – seem to suggest the Congress’ Himachal problems are not yet over.

The comments have been seen in the light of the general election due in a few months.

The hill state has been a bastion for the BJP since Prime Minister Narendra Modi led his party to power at the centre; there may be only four seats, but the BJP won all four in 2014 and 2019.

“From Day 1 I have been telling the Chief Minister that we can only face upcoming elections if he strengthens the organisation. This is a very tough situation for us… we can see a lot of difficulties on the ground (and) as per directions of PM Modi, BJP is going to do a lot of things,” she said.

#WATCH | When asked about speculations of Vikramaditya Singh’s meeting with the six disqualified Congress MLAs, Himachal Pradesh Congress president Pratibha Singh says, “I have no idea about this. He was here until last night. What did he decide further and where did he go, I… pic.twitter.com/gqwAIHcfZR

— ANI (@ANI) March 1, 2024

“We are on weak footing… I have urged him again and again. This is a difficult time, but still we have to contest elections and win,” Ms Singh, who also showed sympathy for the cross-voting MLAs, said.

On Wednesday, as the Congress dealt with the challenge of cross-voting MLAs, Vikramaditya Singh had announced his resignation. He accused the Chief Minister of “negligence” towards his lawmakers and broke down as he accused the party of not allotting land for a statue of his father.

READ | “Didn’t Get Land For Father’s Statue”: Himachal Congress Leader

“In the past year, I have not said a word on this government but it is my responsibility to speak out now…” he declared. Hours later he backtracked, but underlined his ambivalent stance as he did so.

That same day the Congress pulled off a last-gasp maneuver to save itself, expelling 15 BJP MLAs to bring down the effective strength of the House and pass the state budget.

READ | Congress Buys Time In Himachal? Budget Passed Amid Coup Fears

The Assembly session was then adjourned, buying the party at least till after the general election.

The BJP must also now contest the expulsion of its MLAs – including former Chief Minister Jairam Thakur – before it can mount another attack on its rival.

For its part, the Congress has declared itself ‘safe’ for now after its top troubleshooter, Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister DK Shivakumar, was rushed in.

READ | “All Is Well”: DK Shivakumar On Crisis In Congress’s Himachal Unit

He met both Vikramaditya Singh and Pratibha Singh in Shimla Thursday evening, after which he told reporters, “All is well. This government will stay for five years. All issues have been sorted out…”

The crisis exploded after the six rebels, and three independents who had professed their support, voted for the BJP’s candidate in this week’s Rajya Sabha election, and were then taken by the party.

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