New Delhi: The Bharatiya Janata Party today released another list of six candidates, including Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu, for the biennial elections to the Rajya Sabha from five states.
Others shortlisted by the BJP central election committee are party spokesperson M.J. Akbar, vice president Vinay Sahasrabuddhe, BJP Uttar Pradesh unit vice president Shiv Pratap Shukla, Jharkhand BJP leader Mahesh Poddar and Vikas Mahatme, who is the founder of Mahatme Eye Bank and Eye Hospital.
Party’s general secretary Ram Madhav, whose name was doing rounds as a contender, is not among the six candidates with sources saying he is likely to get a bigger responsibility in the organisation following a rejig, which is expected soon.
It had yesterday released the first list of 12 candidates. Shukla is a senior party leader from UP where the party wanted to field a Brahmin face, a key support base of BJP, ahead of the assembly polls next year.
Poddar is a senior party leader from Jharkhand. Madhav, who played an important role in BJP’s win in Assam and earlier in Jammu and Kashmir, had said in a tweet yesterday that he would not be a candidate from Andhra Pradesh, as speculated.
A senior party functionary said Madhav had opted out of the Rajya Sabha candidacy.
Another general secretary Anil Jain was also a contender from a seat from Madhya Pradesh but Akbar, who represents Jharkhand in the Upper House, was preferred.
Sahasrabuddhe heads a think tank affiliated to the party and is also in charge of party affairs in Madhya Pradesh.
Prabhu currently represents Haryana in the Upper House but was shifted to Andhra Pradesh after ally TDP accepted BJP’s request.
Union Ministers M Venkaiah Naidu, Birender Singh, Nirmala Sitharaman, Piyush Goyal and Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi were among the 12 candidates whose names were announced yesterday.
Elections for the 57 seats will be held on June 11 and tomorrow is the last date for filing nominations.
Bypoll for one seat in Gujarat will also be held the same day.
It had fallen vacant following the death of Congress member Pravin Rashtrapal. While 14 BJP members are retiring, its increased strength in states like Maharshtra, Haryana and Jharkhand is likely to help all its 18 candidates sail through.
(With PTI inputs)
