Congress has fielded Mukul Wasnik (Maharashtra), Randeep Singh Surjewala (Haryana) and Pramod Tiwari (Uttar Pradesh) as Rajya Sabha nominees from Rajasthan….reports Asian Lite News
With the Congress fielding three candidates from outside the state for the Rajya Sabha polls scheduled on June 10, dissent is brewing within the party in Rajasthan.
Both the Independent MLAs supporting the party as well as some Congress legislators are questioning the party high command’s decision to nominate candidates from outside the state to contest from Rajasthan.
Congress has fielded Mukul Wasnik (Maharashtra), Randeep Singh Surjewala (Haryana) and Pramod Tiwari (Uttar Pradesh) as Rajya Sabha nominees from Rajasthan.
Congress MLA Bharat Singh on Monday wrote to Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot saying: “All three Congress candidates are from outside the state. It is a matter of satisfaction for the Congress that the BJP has fielded Ghanshyam Tiwari as its candidate. Tiwari was a member of the Congress for some time. It is also true that the big leaders no longer show the courage to contest Lok Sabha or Assembly elections. They only want to survive through the Rajya Sabha.”
Singh added: “As a Congress MLA, it is painful to see these leaders become ‘Lat Sahab’ after winning elections. They have neither the time nor the inclination to meet the party MLAs or the workers.”
Independent MLA Sanyam Lodha, who’s an advisor to the Chief Minister, also questioned the move to field three candidates from outside the state. Other Independent MLAs are also reportedly not happy with the move.
The three Congress nominees have reached Jaipur and will file their nominations at 11 a.m. on Tuesday.
BJP list misses prominent names
Prominent names, including Union Minister Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi are missing from the BJP’s list of candidates for the Rajya Sabha polls to be held next month.
The BJP has so far released the names of 22 candidates in three lists for the June 10 election.
The list misses the names of Union Minority Affairs Minister Naqvi, former Union Minister Prakash Javadekar, party national general secretary Dushyant Gautam, former national vice president Dr Vinay Sahastrabuddhe, former Union Minister Shiv Pratap Shukla and national spokesperson Syed Zafar Islam.
Sahastrabuddhe is serving as president of Indian Council for Cultural Relations (ICCR).
Sources said that Naqvi may be fielded from the Rampur Lok Sabha seat in Uttar Pradesh for which bypolls are scheduled for June 23. Naqvi is elected to the Upper House from Jharkhand and the BJP has nominated Aditya Sahu from the state this time.
Late Monday evening, the BJP announced the names of four more candidates for the upcoming biennial election for the Rajya Sabha from Madhya Pradesh, Karnataka and Uttar Pradesh.
On Sunday, the BJP announced the names of 18 candidates for the Rajya Sabha biennial elections in two lists.
In a list of candidates released on Sunday, the BJP has fielded Union Ministers Nirmala Sitharaman from Karnataka and Piyush Goyal from Maharashtra.
The BJP has fielded Sitharaman, actor-turned-politician Jaggesh and Lahar Singh Siroya from Karnataka, while Kavita Patidar and Sumitra Valmiki will contest from Madhya Pradesh.
From Maharashtra, Union Minister Piyush Goyal, Anil Sukhdevrao Bonde and Dhananjay Mahadik have been fielded.
From Uttar Pradesh, Laxmikant Bajpai, Radhamohan Aggarwal, Surendra Singh Nagar, Baburam Nishad, Darshana Singh, Sangeeta Yadav, Mithlesh Kumar and Dr K. Laxman are the candidates.
In Bihar, the saffron party has given tickets to Satish Chandra Dubey and Shambhu Sharan Patel.
The BJP has fielded Kalpana Saini from Uttarakhand, Krishan Lal Panwar from Haryana and Ghanshyam Tiwari from Rajasthan.
Biennial elections for 57 Rajya Sabha seats will be held across 15 states on June 10.
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