While the last Lok Sabha elections saw Rahul Gandhi making his electoral debut, this time his cousin Varun Gandhi and several other 'Yuvrajs' appear ready to join the race with political stalwarts involved in hectic lobbying to ensure tickets for their wards.
Apart from Varun, son of Bharatiya Janata Party leader Maneka Gandhi, Rashtriya Lok Dal chief Ajit Singh's son Jayant Chowhury will also be trying his luck in the polls.
Ajit Singh has selected Mathura seat for Jayant and has asked him to concentrate on preparing ground for him, RLD sources said.
Similarly, Maneka Gandhi has made up her mind to field her son Varun from her Pilibhit seat, won by her in past Lok Sabha elections. Maneka is confident that her son would be able to win their hearts especially with his oratorical skills.
Senior BJP leader Om Prakash Singh is also lobbying within the party for ensuring ticket to his son Anurag Singh from Mirzapur seat. Though the party has not finalised its tickets yet, Singh is hopeful of turning the tide in favour of his son, sources said.
Another BJP leader and MLC Raghav Ram Mishra is making a case for his son PR Misra from Basti seat. There are differences within the party over candidature of Mishra from this seat but he has started the ground work for the same in the constituency.
The 2004 polls saw Rahul, Samajwadi Party supreme Mulayam Singh Yadav's son Akhilesh Yadav and Congress leader Jitnedra Prasad's son Jitin Prasad entering the Lok Sabha for the first time.
Heavy weight Harishankar Tiwari, known for his alleged criminal antecedents, is preparing ground for fielding his son Vinay Shankar Tiwari from Gorakhpur in eastern Uttar Pradesh or some nearby seat on a Bahujan Samaj Party ticket.
His elder son Kushal Tiwari had won Khalilabad Lok Sabha by-elections on BSP ticket early this year.
With an aim of sending his two sons in Lok Sabha, Tiwari is trying to strengthen his position in eastern UP to counter Hindu Yuva Vahini chief Yogi Adityanath's increasing influence. The ruling BSP is expected to help him in this endeavour.
"Both Vinay and Kushal's name is final as BSP nominees for the next Lok Sabha elections," a close confidante of Tiwari claimed.
In a bid to ensure entry of his son Mahesh Verma into Lok Sabha, former speaker of the state assembly Dhaniram Verma has switched to BSP.
The BSP has also named him as party candidate from the Kannauj seat.
Samajwadi Party leader Amir Alam is also trying hard to ensure a ticket to his son Nawajish Alam from Muzaffarnagar seat, SP sources said.
According to his supporters, party supremo Mulayam Singh Yadav has given positive indications in his regard.
The name of BJP National President Rajnath Singh's son Pankaj Singh is also taken as prospective candidate by his supporters. However, neither Rajnath nor Pankaj have given any indication in this regard.
Pankaj was earlier offered a ticket during assembly elections and later made state head of Bhartiya Janata Yuva Morcha, but he declined on both the occasions.
