RS elections: After Naqvi, BJP drops Akbar also
After Union minister of minority affairs Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi’s exclusion from the Rajya Sabha, the axe has also fallen on controversial BJP Rajya Sabha MP and former minister of state for external affairs M.J. Akbar.
Akbar, a Rajya Sabha member from Madhya Pradesh, is not being renominated. He had served as a minister in the Narendra Modi government’s first term, but was forced to resign in October 2018 when sexual harassment charges were levelled against him.
The BJP has now fielded new faces Kavita Patidar and Sumitra Valmiki in the coming Rajya Sabha elections from Madhya Pradesh. M.J. Akbar’s Upper House term expires on June 29.
While BJP insiders argued that the party leadership
wants to give “new faces a chance”, a section in the party felt “Akbar has become a liability”. A party leader said: “When the government believes in empowering women, how can we have an MP against whom sexual harassment charges were levelled?”
It may be recalled that Akbar was accused by journalist Priya Ramani and several other women of alleged “predatory conduct”. Akbar had filed a defamation case against Ramani, but a Delhi court had ruled that “a woman cannot be punished for raising her voice against sexual abuse”. Following this verdict, Akbar had moved the Delhi high court challenging this order.
BJP party bring faces”.
Meanwhile, the BJP has appointed in-charges for the Rajya Sabha polls. Union ministers Narendra Singh Tomar and Gajendra Singh Shekhawat were named for Rajasthan and Haryana respectively, two states that are headed for a keen contest with the entry of party-backed Independents.
Union minister Ashwini Vaishnaw was named incharge for the Rajya Sabha polls in Maharashtra, while Union minister G. Kishan Reddy was appointed incharge for the polls in Karnataka. sources said the now “intends to
clean and fresh