Mix of old, new candidates for RS entry as polls near
Sunetra Choudhury and Pankaj Jaiswal
NEW DELHI/LUCKNOW: The preparations for elections to 57 Rajya Sabha seats are in full swing with the notification due next week and the last date for filing nominations at the end of the month. HT learns that there’s a mix of old and new candidates seeking entry into the Upper House of Parliament, elections for which will be held on June 10.
Among the new entrants is likely to be Rashtriya Lok Dal leader Jayant Chaudhary, with the support of his alliance partner Akhilesh Yadav’s Samajwadi Party (SP), according to people familiar with the matter who asked not to be named.
“He is going to Lucknow in a day or two where he will meet Akhilesh ji,’’ said a RLD spokesperson.
The SP is scheduled to organise a meeting of its legislators and council members this weekend, during which it will take a final call on candidates for the three seats the party is sure to win of the 11 seats that are up for grabs from the state. The 11 seats are currently represented by BJP (5), SP (3), BSP (2) and Congress (1). “You can say that there is a high probability that Jayant ji will get the nomination,’’ said a SP spokesperson. This will mark a return to Parliament for Chaudhary, 43, after eight years. He was Lok Sabha MP from Mathura between 2009 and 2014, before losing the seat to actorturned-politician Hema Malini.
Whether Congress’s change seeker Kapil Sibal will be back in the Rajya Sabha for another term is uncertain for now. In his last term, he was supported by the SP. He has a warm relationship with many SP leaders. On Thursday, in the Supreme Court, he represented jailed SP leader Azam
Khan. Sibal also helped Akhilesh Yadav retain the party’s bicycle symbol in 2017 during a tumultuous period in the SP’S existence. “The party has not decided on the candidates yet,” said SP national secretary and state spokesperson Rajendra Chaudhary.
Congress spokesperson Anshu Awasthi said: “The Congress high command has not yet communicated anything on the RS elections. It is the high command that will make the decision. In 2016, the SP supported Sibal’s candidature.”
“Nobody has approached me and nothing is happening. I am only interested in helping the poor get their rights,’’ said Sibal.
The Congress, with two MLAS in UP, is not in a position to field a candidate on its own. But, Sibal’s former party colleague and now BJP leader RPN Singh may be among the eight that the BJP sends to the Upper House from the state. “No one has said anything about this to me,’’ said Singh, when contacted but he is considered one of the top contenders from the state. “It was due to RPN that the BJP got a good result in the Gorakhpur mandal. While no one can be certain, he is a favourite right now,’’ said a BJP MP from the state who asked not to be named.
Meanwhile, the Congress is hoping to get eight out of the 57 seats in this round of RS polls: three in Rajasthan , two in Chhattisgarh , and one each in Tamil Nadu, Jharkhand and Maharashtra. However, the contenders are many.