The BJP hopes with the reduced strength of the Congress in the Rajya Sabha, it can now push stalled reforms.
Highlights
- BJP announces first list of 12 candidates for Rajya Sabha elections
- PM Modi, Amit Shah, Arun Jaitley met on May 20 to discuss candidates
- Final call with Amit Shah, BJP eyes 17 seats on the elections
The BJP has announced 12 candidates for the coming Rajya Sabha elections on June 11. With the first list for the 58 seats which are falling vacant between June and August, BJP has ended speculation over from which states Prime Minister Narendra Modi will bring back some of his minsters.
M Venkaiah Naidu, minister for urban development, was elected from Karnataka six years ago. Now Mr Naidu will be sent from Rajasthan, along with Om Mathur who is PM Modi's point man for key assignments.
Nirmala Sitharaman, the commerce minister, will return to Rajya Sabha from Karnataka. Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi will be coming from Jharkhand. His last term was from Uttar Pradesh. Piyush Goyal will be returning from Maharashtra and Chaudhary Birender Singh from Haryana.
PM Modi had met BJP president Amit Shah and Arun Jaitley on May 20 and discussed candidates for the coming polls. It was decided that a final call will be taken by Mr Shah on the issue. BJP is eyeing 17 seats in this phase of polls.
The biennial elections to 57 seats in Rajya Sabha are going to be held as 55 members from 15 states are retiring between June and August.
The Congress had nominated a heavy weight panel of experienced hands with legal expertise including P Chidambaram and Kapil Sibal yesterday.
The Congress, ruling fewer states, is expected to lose ground in the upper house in this round of elections. The party's dominating position is expected to go down from 64 to 57. While the BJP may not gain many but the round may see regional parties like AIADMK sending more MPs to the Upper House. This will weaken the Congress veto and the Modi government is eyeing the monsoon session to push the GST bill being stalled so far by the Congress.