Naidu, Naqvi among 12 BJP picks for RS poll

KV Prasad

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, May 29

The BJP today re-nominated five ministers of the Narendra Modi government to the Rajya Sabha in the list of 12 candidates announced for the biennial polls to be held early next month.

Names of ministers Chaudhary Birender Singh (Haryana), M Venkaiah Naidu (Rajasthan), Niramala Sitharaman (Karnataka), Piyush Goyal (Maharashtra) and Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi (Jharkhand) were on the list announced by party incharge Jagat Prakash Nadda.

The party also decided to bring in its national vice-presidents Om Prakash Mathur (Rajasthan), Purushottam Rupala (Gujarat) and sitting MP Anil Madhav Dave (Madhya Pradesh). It also nominated former Chhattisgarh minister Ram Vichar Netam and former Bihar state party chief Gopal Narayan Singh from their respective states.

The party shifted Urban Development Minister Venkaiah Naidu from Karnataka where a campaign was underway on social media protesting the seat being given to an outsider. Naidu is from neighbouring Andhra Pradesh but was accommodated from Karnataka.

An online “Saaku versus Beku” (own versus outsider) was launched soon after the state unit recommended Naidu be re-nominated for the fourth time from the state. Besides online campaign, Kannada Rakshana Vedike even staged a protest in front of the BJP state party offices in Bengaluru and other cities.

Similarly, shifting of Commerce Minister (independent charge) Nirmala Sitharaman from Andhra Pradesh to Karnataka was anticipated since ally Telugu Desam Party (TDP) had reservations in adjusting her from the state.

There is a possibility that the TDP could leave the seat for the BJP, which still has to find a berth for Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu who till now represented Haryana.

In Rajasthan, the BJP fielded two newcomers, Harsh Vardhan Singh who hails from the Dungarpur royal family. He is the nephew of former BCCI President Raj Singh Dungarpur, while the other candidate Ram Kumar Verma is a Dalit and vice-president of Ambedkar Peeth. The BJP is slated to bag all four seats where vacancies are scheduled to arise. Fifty-seven Rajya Sabha seats will fall vacant between June and August this year. The last date for filing of nominations to the Rajya Sabha is May 31 and polling will be held on June 11.