KJ Alphons elected RS MP unopposed

Union minister KJ Alphons was on Thursday elected unopposed as Rajya Sabha MP from Rajasthan after the Congress did not put up a candidate.

The by-poll was necessitated after former MP Venkaiah Naidu vacated the seat following his election as the country’ vice president. Secretary of the legislative assembly Prithvi Raj confirmed that Alphons has been elected unopposed.

“I thank hon. PM @narendramodi ji, Mr. @AmitShah ji, Smt. @VasundharaBJP ji, #MLAs and the people of #Rajasthan for electing me as the Member of Parliament,” the union minister of state for tourism tweeted.

“I am from Kerala and now I am happy to be a Rajasthani,” the bureaucrat-turned-politician said while addressing party leaders and workers at BJP state headquarters in Jaipur.

On his journey from a village in Kerala to the Parliament, Alphons said, “I lived and studied in a village, where there was no electricity. My scores weren’t that good in Class 10 examination, but I topped civil services in 1979. Over the year, I held many posts as an IAS officer before deciding to join politics. Many people told me that there weren’t many good people in politics, and I told them that is why I will join it,” Alphons said.

He quit the civil services, in 2006 and joined politics. “I was elected as independent MLA (from Kanjirapally in Kottayam district) and was supporting the Left front,” Alphons, who joined BJP in 2011, said. “I felt that India needs a good and powerful Prime Minister, and decided to support Narendra Modi.”

Showering praise on Rajasthan chief minister Vasundhara Raje, Alphons said, “She is the best chief minister in the world, and ministers in Rajasthan are efficient.My objective is to establish Rajasthan on number one position in world tourism map.”

HTC

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