BJP drops Raman Singh's son, 4 other Chhattisgarh MPs

Raipur, Mar 25: The BJP has dropped all its 10 sitting MPs in Chhattisgarh including Abhishek Singh, son of former chief minister Raman Singh, from its list of candidates who would be contesting the Lok Sabha polls in Chhattisgarh.

The party has instead fielded Santosh Pandey from the Rajnandgaon Lok Sabha seat in the state.

The decision to drop all sitting MPs comes in the wake of BJP's drubbing in the state in the December assembly elections after 15 years of rule under Raman Singh and is seen as an attempt to beat anti-incumbency against the sitting parliamentarians.

Abhishek Singh, who allegedly figured in the infamous Panam Papers that listed names of people who parked their mo-ney in offshore banks, has been replaced by Santosh Pandey as BJP candidate for Rajnandgaon parliamentary constituency.

The party has reduced to mere 15 seats in the 90-member Chhattisgarh Assembly, while the Congress staged a comeback to power in the state in style after 15 years by securing 68 seats.