Ahmedabad, March 18: Kashiram Rana, the six-time MP from Surat who led a rebellion against Narendra Modi, and seven other sitting MPs have been left out of the BJP’s first list of candidates for 21 of Gujarat’s 26 seats.

Rana’s exclusion was expected, after the South Gujarat strongman revolted against the chief minister. As was that of Rajkot MP Vallabh Kathiria, another rebel leader.

However, the names of three “Congressmen” on the list released yesterday came as a surprise. They had recently switched loyalties to the BJP, claiming they were impressed by Modi’s leadership.

Bhavsinh Rathod, a Congress MLA, is yet to resign from the party but has been named the BJP’s candidate from the Patan Lok Sabha seat. He took seven years to discover Modi’s leadership qualities and decided to strengthen the BJP just one day before the party released its list of candidates.

Lalji Mer, from Surendranagar, and Devusinh Chauhan, from Kheda, are other former Congress leaders who have got BJP tickets.

In the 2004 election, the BJP had won 14 seats.

Three tainted BJP leaders — Dipak Sathi (Anand), Prabhatsinh Chauhan (Panchmahals) and C.R. Patil (Navsari) — have also got tickets from Modi, who never tires of bragging about his “good governance”, “transparency” and “zero tolerance for corruption”.

All the three are accused of involvement in cooperative bank scams in their districts, and Patil and Sathi have even spent several months in jail. Chauhan had lost the Assembly election from the area miserably.

“That Modi would drop sitting MPs was expected, especially those who had criticised him. Modi may tolerate tainted candidates but he does not want anyone to oppose him,” said Ghanshyam Shah, a retired professor of Jawaharlal Nehru University and a political observer.

Because the chief minister wants to build a team of loyalists, he fielded new faces, even some borrowed from the Congress. “After all, candidates do not matter, what matters is Modi — the BJP’s supreme leader in Gujarat,” said Dinesh Shukla, also a retired professor and a Modi watcher.

The “new faces” from the BJP that Modi fielded are little-known figures like Kirit Solanki, who has never held a party post or fought an election, but has got the West Ahmedabad ticket. Darshnaben Jardosh, a corporator, will contest from the prestigious Surat seat.