Puri elected unopposed to RS from UP

Lucknow, Jan. 8: Union minister Hardeep Singh Puri was on Monday elected unopposed in a bypoll to a Rajya Sabha seat from Uttar Pradesh, principal secretary of the state Assembly Pradeep Dubey said.

The seat fell vacant following the resignation of Manohar Parrikar, who quit as defence minister after becoming the Goa chief minister. His term was to end on November 25, 2020.

“Today was the last date of withdrawal of nominations and Mr Puri was the lone candidate. He was elected unopposed,” Mr Dubey said.

A career diplomat- turnedpolitician, 65- yearold Puri was sworn in as a minister in September and was allocated the housing and urban development ministry.

But since he was not a Member of Parliament, he had to enter either the Lok Sabha or the Rajya Sabha within the stipulated six months of taking oath. Former two- time Shiv Sena corporator Ashok Sawant was stabbed to death in Kandivali’s Thakur Complex late on Sunday. Tension prevailed in the area for some time following the incident and local party workers forced shops to down their shutters in some areas. The Samata Nagar police has arrested two people — Sohail Dodhiya and Ganesh Jogadand — while three others, including a “notorious goon” called Jaga, are wanted in the case.

A preliminary probe revealed that Sawant had had a dispute with Jagga for unknown reasons following which the latter threatened him on several occasions. Sawant had lodged a complaint with the police regarding this.

The police is looking into two theories about what might have led to Sawant’s murder: a dispute over a cable television business and a slum redevelopment project. It is, however, tightlipped over the motive.

On Sunday night, as soon as Sawant, who was returning home after attending a meeting, alighted from an auto- rickshaw near his residence, at least three persons stabbed him multiple times. “There are at least 20 stab wounds on the body. He was rushed to a nearby hospital but he succumbed to his injuries,” said an officer from the Samata Nagar police station.

The investigators said that Dodhiya had hired Jogadand to fetch Sawant in his autorickshaw and the latter reached the spot in the vehicle following which the attack took place.