BJP drops Agra MP Ram Shankar Katheria from first ticket list

AGRA: BJP has replaced six sitting MPs in the first list of 29 UP candidates for the Lok Sabha elections including Agra MP and chairman of the National Commission for Scheduled Castes Ram Shankar Katheria and Fatehpur Sikri’s MP Chaudhary Babulal with state cabinet minister SP Singh Baghel and Raj Kumar Chahar, respectively.

Party has also dropped Union minister Krishna Raj, replacing her with Arun Sagar from Shahjahanpur seat. In Agra, BJP selected state cabinet minister SP Singh Baghel in place of Katheria, who was once considered the Dalit face of the party.

The other two sitting MPs who have been refused party nominations from west UP are Fatehpur Sikri’s MP Chaudhary Babulal, who has been replaced with Raj Kumar Chaher, and Sambhal MP Satya Pal Singh, who has been replaced by Parmeshwar Lal Saini .

Despite speculation that Bollywood star and Mathura MP Hema Malini would be shifted from her constituency, she has been renominated. Controversial MP Satish Gautam and Rajasthan's governor, Kalyan Singh’s son, Rajveer Singh, will re-contest polls from the Aligarh and Etah Lok Sabha constituencies, respectively.

According to senior state BJP leaders, dropping of Katheria came as a surprise. They claimed that a recent internal survey by BJP on winning candidates could be the reason for denying a ticket to Katheria as many party workers were opposed to him.

In fact, SP Singh Baghel, who replaced him, was one of his vocal critics and had been openly speaking against Katheria. Baghel had alleged that Katheria had humiliated him several times. He had blamed Katheria for non-inclusion of his name in the list of leaders who welcomed the PM in Agra on January 9. Not only this, Katheria had dropped his name in the meeting with Union minister Nitin Gadkari.

Fatehpur Sikri MP, Chaudhary Babulal, who has also been denied ticket by the party was not in good terms with Katheria. He had alleged several times that the latter had sidelined him and other leaders of the party in order to keep himself in the limelight.

Sources said Katheria, who represented Agra in 2009 and 2014, can still be considered from Etawah or Hathras reserved seats. Katheria belongs to Etawah district.