BJP leader Jaswant Singh denied LS ticket from Barmer

The Central Election Committee of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) decided on Friday not to give in to veteran leader Jaswant Singh's demand/request to grant him a ticket to contest the general elections from Rajasthan's Barmer District.

Speculation is rife that Singh is likely to declare himself an independent and will contest from Barmer. Speculation is also rife that the RSS and Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje have had a say in denying Jaswant Singh the ticket.

The rejection of Jaswant Singh comes soon after another leader L.K.Advani was told that he could only contest from Gandhinagar, instead of his preferred choice of Bhopal.

The BJP has been facing an uproar lately for election ticket distribution, especially over the fielding of Advani.

On Friday, Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leader Tariq Anwar slammed Modi's strategy of power politics as the reason for apparent rift within the opposition.

"The power of all senior leaders is being downsized one by one and everybody is aware of working style of Narendra Modi. He doesn't like anybody standing equal to him," said Anwar in New Delhi.

The prime ministerial candidate of the BJP, Narendra Modi, arrived in New Delhi on Thursday to meet and convince Advani and persuade him to contest from Gandhinagar. Advani finally relented after party's ideological mentor Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) intervened.

Speaking about Jaswant Singh, a leader of regional Samajwadi Party (SP) commented that hungry for power BJP does not have any agenda.

"It is an internal matter of BJP and we have always been maintaining that BJP fights for power and not for the country. BJP has no agenda and it only wants to come in power. And people hungry for power can never be faithful to country," said SP leader Naresh Agarwal.

However the BJP leadership is yet to take a decision on the constituency of Singh.

"Jaswant Singh is a very senior leader of our party and central leadership of our party will assess the situation and take a decision on him," said a BJP leader Sudhanshu Trivedi.

Singh wishes to contest the parliamentary elections for the last time.

Singh has been a member of Indian parliament nine times in the past and held many portfolios including foreign affairs, finance and defence for BJP.

The election will start on April 7.

BJP's strong showing in the assembly polls in four states last year has boosted the momentum for Modi in the run-up to the national polls.

Given India's diverse and fragmented electorate, neither Modi nor Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi is expected to win the 272 seats needed for an outright majority.

The biggest party will seek to form a coalition with regional parties.