Party will decide at 'right time': Mahajan on candidature

Amid suspense over whether she would get the ticket this time, Lok Sabha Speaker and sitting BJP MP from Indore Sumitra Mahajan said Sunday that her party will take a decision at the right time.

Mahajan, who will turn 76 next month, has been an eight-time MP from Indore.

"This (to announce a candidate) is the job of the BJP organisation. The organisation would take appropriate decision at the right time," Mahajan, popularly known as 'Tai' (elder sister in Marathi), told reporters here.

"Everybody is a bit anxious as the BJP candidate from Indore has not been announced. But I am attending the party's meetings every day as I am a BJP worker," she said.

"I have been working for the BJP's victory in the Lok Sabha elections and will keep on doing so," said Mahajan, who has been winning from Indore since 1989.

The BJP has announced candidates for 18 out of 29 Lok Sabha seats in Madhya Pradesh so far, but not taken a call on Indore.

This has fuelled speculation that Mahajan might be dropped, like other BJP stalwarts L K Advani and Murli Manohar Joshi, due to her age.

Taking potshots at her, Congress leader and state sports minister Jitu Patwari said, "Indore voters have grown tired of Tai's leadership now as she is approaching 80.

"The BJP too is fed up thinking about (what is to be done about) her candidature, that is why it has not yet declared its candidate," he said, claiming that the Congress will wrest the seat this time no matter whom the BJP fields.

The Congress too has not announced its candidate from Indore yet.