BJP parliamentary board members today gathered here at Gujarat Chief Minister's residence for brainstorming sessions to decide the final panel of candidates for 26 Lok Sabha seats in the state, party sources said.
Besides Modi, the meeting was attended by Gujarat BJP in-charge Om Mathur, state BJP president RC Faldu, state revenue minister Anandiben Patel, state forest minister Mangu Patel, minister for social justice Ramanlal Vora, as well as other senior BJP leaders from different districts.
"Today's meeting focussed on candidates to be fielded in nine state constituencies of central and south Gujarat. On March 11, the board will brainstorm on another nine seats of North Gujarat, including Ahmedabad and Gandhinagar. On March 12, meetings will be held for the remaining eight seats of Saurashtra and the rest of Gujarat," BJP media cell convenor Harshad Patel said.
During his brief interaction with the media, senior BJP leader Vijay Rupani said that the final panel of probable candidates would be be sent to BJP's central parliamentary board.
"After this week long exercise, the state parliamentary board will give the list to the central board, which will declare the final candidates for each seat in the coming days," Rupani said.
The nine seats discussed today include Vadodara, Bharuch, Chhota-Udepur, Panchmahal, Dahod, Valsad, Navsari, Bardoli and Surat.
"Reports from observers along with suggestions from district presidents were also taken into consideration by the board during the meeting," Patel said.
Sources said that the central parliamentary board would announce final candidates for Gujarat after the festival of Holi, which falls on March 17.
