A day after the Bharatiya Janta Party (BJP) picked Sanjay Tandon as its Chandigarh candidate for the June 1 Lok Sabha elections, former Union minister Pawan Bansal, who is in the race for the Congress ticket, said the party was under no pressure to announce names just because the rival party had done so.

“There is no pressure (to announce tickets). The party high command will do so whenever they decide on a name. Focus is on strengthening the democracy and performing for the development of the city. The BJP will be ousted in these elections due to non-performance over the last 10 years,” said Bansal, while addressing the media on Thursday.

Pawan Bansal also said the embarrassment faced by the BJP in the January 30 mayoral polls had exposed its functioning.

Besides Pawan Bansal, Chandigarh Congress president Harmohinder Singh Lucky and Anandpur Sahib MP Manish Tewari are the front-runners for the Congress ticket from Chandigarh.

Dismissing any factionalism within the party, Lucky said there was no fight for the ticket and each aspirant will wholeheartedly support the chosen candidate.

On the occasion, the party also highlighted its election manifesto “Nyaya Patra”. Addressing the media, Lucky said, “The ‘Nyaya Patra’ had been launched to give much-needed relief to people, who are reeling under 10 years of ‘anyay kaal’ of the BJP rule.”

Explaining the salient features of Congress’ manifesto, Pawan Bansal said it was an outcome of interaction of senior party leader Rahul Gandhi with lakhs of people across the length and breadth of the country.