Sudhanshu Trivedi is BJP’s RS pick from UP

LUCKNOW : BJP national spokesman Sudhanshu Trivedi has been named as the party candidate for the Rajya Sabha by-polls from Uttar Pradesh. He would file his nomination in Lucknow on Friday, the last date for filing nominations.

“Chief minister Yogi Adityanath, deputy CM Dinesh Sharma, ministers of UP government and senior party functionaries would be present for Trivedi’s nomination,” said JPS Rathore, UP BJP vice president.

The nomination comes days after Congress leader Jitin Prasada had criticised the UP BJP leadership for ignoring Brahmins in the state. In the recent ministry expansion the BJP had picked several Brahmins along with OBCs to convey it wanted to keep the influential upper caste community in good humour. The party has recently appointed Kalraj Mishra as governor of Rajasthan. A protégé of BJP ideologue Nanaji Deshmukh, Trivedi had also served as the political advisor to the then BJP chief Rajnath Singh, the current defence minister. The nomination of Trivedi, who is likely to have an easy sail in the by-poll, is aimed at conveying the party’s desire to keep the upper castes in good humor, BJP leaders admit.

The by-poll was required after the demise of former finance minister Arun Jaitley who was elected to the upper house from the state. Jaitley term was valid till April 2024. When elected, Trivedi would complete the remainder of Jaitley’s term.

The election commission that had issued notification for the by-poll on September 27 has set October 5 for scrutiny of nomination papers and the last date for withdrawal of candidates is October 9.