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Journalism of Courage
The BJP’s central election committee announced on Wednesday that Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, a Rajya Sabha member from Gujarat, will contest the upcoming March 23 elections to the Upper House from Uttar Pradesh, while Oil Minister Dharmendra Pradhan will represent Madhya Pradesh. Currently, Pradhan is a member from Bihar.
Of the 58 Rajya Sabha seats going to polls, Uttar Pradesh accounts for 10. Following its massive win in the last year’s Assembly elections, the BJP will gain eight UP seats, seven up from its previous tally. Samajwadi Party, which currently has 18 members in the Upper House, is set to lose five of its six seats up for polls — this means its tally will come down to 13. The Congress is set to lose its solitary seat from UP. BSP, which was down one seat following Mayawati’s resignation, is set to lose one more and will be left with four.
The BJP announced names of seven Union ministers and one general secretary for the upcoming elections. Except Jaitley and Pradhan, the others will contest from the same states they have been elected from. Social Justice Minister Thawarchand Gehlot will contest from Madhya Pradesh, Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad from Bihar and J P Nadda from Himachal Pradesh. This will be Nadda’s second term as MP and the move is being seen as a ploy to placate the minister after he lost out on the chief minister post to Jai Ram Thakur.
The other two Union ministers, Parshottam Rupala and Manusukh Mandaviya, will contest from Gujarat. Bhupender Yadav, the party’s general secretary, will again contest from Rajasthan. The terms of all seven leaders ends on April 2 and all are set to be elected again.
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