Prabhu, Akbar on BJP list

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, May 30

The BJP today announced its decision to re-nominate Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu from Andhra Pradesh and party spokesperson MJ Akbar from Madhya Pradesh among six candidates for the forthcoming Rajya Sabha biennial elections.

Prabhu, who was representing Haryana, was shifted to Andhra where its ally Telugu Desam Party accommodated the BJP. The TDP had earlier expressed reservation over a similar arrangement as regards Commerce Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, who was shifted to Karnataka. With this, the BJP successfully completed re-nominating all its six ministers whose terms in the Rajya Sabha have ended or are due to end.

The party decided to field senior leader Shastrabuddhe and Vikas Mahatme from Maharashtra, brought in state party vice-president Shiv Pratap Shukla, a Brahmin from Uttar Pradesh, and Mahesh Poddar from Jharkhand.

Vinay Shastrabuddhe is the director general of the Rambhau Mhalgi Prabodhini in Mumbai. Dr Mahatme is an ophthalmologist who runs an eye bank and research institute in Nagpur. Poddar is a party leader in Jharkhand.

Tomorrow is the last day for filing nominations to 57 RS seats for which polling is scheduled to be held on June 11.