First list of LS candidates in ten days: BJP

BJP will release its first list of party candidates for the upcoming Lok Sabha polls in the next ten days, a senior party leader said on Monday.

"The preliminary process for the shortlisting of candidates is already completed and the list will be declared within the next ten days," former Union minister and party's national vice-president Shanta Kumar said on Monday. He claimed that preparations for Narendra Modi's February 23 rally at Jagraon was over.

Besides Modi, the rally would be addressed by BJP chief Rajnath Singh and Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal, he told reporters. "The gatherings at the rallies is a pointer that Modi's popularity has been accepted by the people of the country," he asserted.