New Delhi, Mar 19 :The BJP denied tickets to two former Union ministers, who are known opponents of Gujarat CM Narendra Modi, but gave the nod to Shatrughan Sinha, about whom there were frequent reports that he could switch loyalties to SP, to contest from Patna Sahib.

Kanshiram Rana and Vallabhai Kataria, who are also sitting MPs, did not figure in the list of party candidates from Gujarat for the Lok Sabha elections.The Central Election Committee (CEC) which met in New Delhi on Tuesday finalised candidates for eight states in which tickets were denied to ten sitting MPs in Gujarat.

Patna Sahib was a seat for which party’s spokesman Ravi Shanker Prasad had reportedly made strong claims.

The candidates declared on Tuesday by BJP’s Central Election Committee were for Karnataka, Maharashtra, Gujarat, Andhra Pradesh, Bihar and Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh.

The candidates for Gujarat included Kirit Solanki(Ahmedabad-West) and Jaishreeben Patel(Mehasana). Even a sitting MLA of Congress who defected to BJP on Monday Bhavsingh Rathor(Patan) got the nod.

Of the 21 seats announced by the party for Gujarat today, 19 were new faces except for two sitting MPs Mansukhbai Vasava(Bharuch) and Harin Pathak(Ahmedabad-East).

The prominent among candidates from Bihar included Rajiv Pratap Rudy(Saran) and Shahnawaz Hussain(Bhagalpur) apart from Sinha.

Party vice-president Gopinath Munde will be the candidate from Beed(Maharashtra) while Subhash Deshmukh(Madha) would be facing NCP chief and Union minister Sharad Pawar.

Former Union minister Ram Naik would be contesting Mumbai-North. He was defeated from the same seat last year by Congress candidate and cinestar Govinda.

The party on Tuesday also announced its 57 candidates for Andhra Pradesh assembly polls.

With the 21 candidates declared on Tuesday, BJP has so far declared candidates for 22 seats including its prime ministerial candidate L K Advani from Gandhinagar.