NEW DELHI: BJP's first list of candidates, which was released yesterday, was eagerly awaited by the activists to know where Prime Minister Narendra Modi will contest. Although the excitement over the name of Varanasi has been temporarily put to rest, as the seats in Tamil Nadu have not been announced, there is still suspense as to whether Narendra Modi will contest in Ramanathapuram as the second constituency.

Since 2014, the first name in the BJP list is that of Narendra Modi. In 2014, he contested in Vadodara in Gujarat and Varanasi in Uttar Pradesh. Later resigned from Vadodara and retained Varanasi. Competed only in Varanasi in 2019. Rumors are strong that this time he will contest in Tamil Nadu as part of growing the party in South India. The recent visit to the state and the announcement made that India will have a Prime Minister from Tamil Nadu and the installation of the scepter from there in the new Parliament have reinforced this suspicion. Ramanathapuram constituency proposed by BJP Tamilnadu unit.

Rajya Sabha members like Union Ministers Nirmala Sitharaman, S. Jayashankar, Piyush Goyal and Hardeep Singh Puri were also tipped to contest but did not make it to the first list. Suspense continues over the candidature of Union Minister Nithin Gadkari, who is said to be estranged from the central leadership. Controversial hero and former wrestling federation president Brijbhushan Sharan Singh's Kaiserganj is also undecided.

Former Union Minister Sushma Swaraj's daughter Bansuri Swaraj will contest in New Delhi instead of Union Minister Meenakshi Lekhi. Ramveer Singh Bidhuri will be contesting in place of Ramesh Bidhuri, who is famous for his controversial speeches in South Delhi. Ajay Mishra (Kheni- UP), father of Ashish and Union Minister of State for Home Affairs, who killed the farmers with his vehicle, was retained. Geeta Koda, wife of former Jharkhand Chief Minister and Congress leader Madhu Koda, who joined the BJP yesterday, is a candidate from Singhbhum (Jharkhand).

Union Ministers Sarbananda Sonowal (Dibrugarh-Assam), Parshotham Rupala (Rajkot-Gujarat) and Mansukh Mandavya (Porbandar-Gujarat) who are Rajya Sabha members. Union Minister Jitendra Singh (Udhampur-J&K), former Tripura Chief Minister Biplav Kumar Deb (Tripura West), Manoj Tiwari (North East Delhi), Shripad Yeso Naik (North Goa), Hema Malini (Mathura-UP), Sakshi Maharaj (Unnao) , Swadhi Niranjan Jyoti (Fatehpur- UP), Nishid Pramanik (Kutch Behar- Bengal), Locket Chatterjee (Hooghly-

Bengal)