Raje

New Delhi, March 23: The BJP, too, appears to have embraced dynastic politics soon after blasting the Congress for promoting it.

The ruling party’s fourth list of 36 candidates for the general elections released today contains at least two relatives of senior leaders.

Dushyant Singh, son of Rajasthan chief minister Vasundhara Raje, has been fielded from his mother's five-time former parliamentary constituency of Jhalawar.

Manvendra Singh, son of finance minister Jaswant Singh, has been fielded from Barmer. He had lost the contest there in 1999.

Asked why the BJP was promoting dynasty after criticising the Congress for it, general secretary Pramod Mahajan said “this is no dynasty”. There was no objection to relatives of political leaders contesting elections, he said, only to the inexperienced being imposed on the electoral fray.

Dushyant, he said, has been working for the BJP for the last 10 years. “And he has not returned from abroad,” Mahajan added, in a hint that was perhaps directed at Congress’ Rahul Gandhi.

The latest list also names new entrant Laxman Singh, the brother of former Madhya Pradesh chief minister Digvijay Singh, as the candidate from Rajgargh and former BJP state chief Kailash Joshi from Bhopal. Asked how the BJP would tackle local leaders’ opposition to Laxman’s nomination, Mahajan said there were “some differences” but “we will overcome it”.

Another new entrant, Shubhangini Devi Gaekwad of the former Baroda royal family, has been fielded from Kheda in Gujarat.

Rajendra Sharma has been pitted against the Congress’ Begum Noor Bano and the Samajwadi Party’s Jayaprada in Rampur, Uttar Pradesh. The state’s speaker, Kesrinath Tripathi, will fight from Machlipur, a predominantly Brahmin constituency.

Dharmendra, actor and husband of the BJP’s Rajya Sabha MP Hema Malini, may be fielded from Bikaner in Rajasthan, party sources said.

The BJP fielded Anwar-ul Haq from Sheohar but did not name the nominee for the disputed Muzaffarpur, also in Bihar. Former Jharkhand chief minister Babulal Marandi will fight from Koderma.

The number of BJP candidates decided so far has touched 324.