By IANS,
Ahmedabad : The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) will announce its candidates for the 26 Lok Sabha seats from Gujarat by March 17, the party’s state unit president Purshottam Rupala said Friday.
The state unit had shortlisted the candidates and the final list would be prepared by the central leadership, he said.
He was addressing reporters here after formally inducting into the party Amit Mehta, son of former chief minister Chhabildas Mehta (Congress), and Devang Nanavati, son of senior Gujarat High Court lawyer Sudhir Nanavati.
Rupala said it was just a coincidence that the two were joining the BJP at a time when the country was going to polls.
“Please don’t read too much into their joining the party at this time. They have made a very conscious decision before seeking membership of the party,” he said.
Amit Mehta said Gujarat had made great progress under the BJP rule.
Devang Nanavati said the BJP’s ideology suited his mindset. “My father also fought from the Ellisbridge assembly seat (Ahmedabad) on a Congress ticket in 1985. The Congress affiliation of my father never came in the way of my deciding to join the BJP,” he added.