Manish Tewari unlikely to contest LS polls

New Delhi, Mar 16: Union Minister Manish Tewari, who has been hospitalised due to a heart ailment, is unlikely to contest the Lok Sabha polls, sources said today.

The Information and Broadcasting Minister, who represents Ludhiana constituency in Lok Sabha, may not be in a position to fight elections and is learnt to have apprised the party leadership of his health condition. 48-year-old Tewari has not been keeping well for the past several days and had earlier gone to AIIMS for treatment.

He was admitted to Max Hospital in south Delhi yesterday. His hospitalisation could not have come at a more inopportune time for Congress as Tewari is a vocal leader and a good orator besides being a senior party spokesman.

Congress has not announced the party candidate for Ludhiana and he was expected to be renominated from the seat. Earlier, there was a speculation that Tewari wanted to contest from Chandigarh seat from where former Union Minister Pawan Kumar Bansal was renominated.

The Information and Broadcasting Minister had recently trashed reports that he was keen on changing his constituency, saying he was prepared to fight from Ludhiana if his party decided to field him.

Party's Central Election Committee is likely to take a decision on Punjab and Delhi soon after Holi.

PTI