New Delhi: The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Tuesday named its national president Nitin Nabin as the Rajya Sabha nominee from Bihar.
Its list of nine candidates for the upcoming Rajya Sabha elections scheduled for 16 March includes leaders from Bihar, Odisha, and West Bengal among others.
Apart from Nabin, the BJP has also named Shivesh Kumar, a former member of the Bihar Legislative Council from the Agiaon constituency, as a candidate for the Upper House of Parliament. Kumar is the son of former Union minister Munni Lal.
From West Bengal, the party has named its former state president Rahul Sinha. BJP state president Manmohan Samal and Sujeet Kumar, whose Rajya Sabha terms are ending, are candidates from Odisha.
From Chhattisgarh, the party has nominated Laxmi Verma. “She has previously served as the vice-chairperson of the State Women’s Commission and has been quite active politically. She has a strong hold among women and gives a strong message of women empowerment too,” said a BJP functionary.
Sanjay Bhatia from Haryana is one of the two RS candidates from the state. The terms of Kiran Choudhry and Ram Chander Jangra are ending in April, necessitating the election for the two seats.
The BJP is yet to name the second candidate. According to BJP insiders, the party was considering the names of Kuldeep Bishnoi, a former two-term Lok Sabha MP and ex-four-term Haryana MLA; former MP Sanjay Bhatia; and Haryana BJP chief Mohan Lal Badoli.
Bhatia has served as the Member of Parliament (MP) for the Karnal Lok Sabha constituency from 2019 to 2024.
Rashtriya Lok Morcha national president Upendra Kushwaha is also the BJP’s official candidate for the upcoming Rajya Sabha elections. The leader from Bihar will contest as the National Democratic Alliance (NDA)-backed nominee.
The BJP has also named sitting MLA Terash Gowalla representing the Duliajan constituency in Assam’s Dibrugarh district as one of its Rajya Sabha candidates. The other nominee is Jogen Mohan, a minister in the Assam government. He holds several portfolios including transport, hill areas development, co-operation, and indigenous and tribal faith and culture.
“One has to see the list not as a routine exercise but in terms of the party’s long-term future and vision. Not only we have to strengthen our position and presence in the Rajya Sabha, we have key alliances in Bihar, too,” said another BJP functionary.
“By nominating Nabin from Bihar, the party is also giving a sort of signal on the importance given to the state in the broader scheme of things.”
(Edited by Tony Rai)
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