As BJP puts out second Haryana list, Union minister slams CM

GURGAON: On a day when BJP released its second list of 21 for the Haryana assembly elections, Union minister and Gurgaon MP Rao Inderjit Singh lashed out at the state BJP leadership on Tuesday, challenging the party's stand that Nayab Singh Saini will continue to lead the govt should it get the mandate.

The remarks came a day after he projected himself as the CM face at a meeting of party workers in Rewari. Referring to his latest victory in the Lok Sabha election earlier this year - which saw him being elected Gurgaon MP for the sixth time, besides being appointed minister in the Modi govt a third time - he said voters wanted to see him as the next CM. "It's the people who want to see me as chief minister. They have given their verdict through elections. Right now, Nayab Singh Saini's kite is flying high in the sky," he said in Rewari on Monday.

In its second list, BJP dropped seven sitting MLAs, including two ministers, and replacing one nominee from the first list. The vice-president of BJYM's Haryana unit, Yogesh Bairagi, a former commercial pilot, has been fielded from Julana to take on Congress's wrestler-turned-politician Vinesh Phogat. With the second list, BJP, which has 41 MLAs in the 90-member assembly, has so far named 87 candidates, dropping a total of 16 sitting MLAs. Two ministers - Seema Trikha from Badkhal and Dr Banwari Lal from Bawal - are among the seven MLAs dropped.