The Union ministers were conspicuous omissions from the BJP list, released on the eve of the last day of filing papers, which has Jagat Prakash Nadda, Union communications minister Ashwini Vaishnaw, fresh import from Congress Ashok Chavan and junior I&B minister L Murugan.
Nadda shifts to Gujarat because of BJP’s depleted numbers in Himachal Pradesh
Environment minister Bhupender Yadav may be fielded from Bhiwani-Mahendragarh in Haryana. Baluni is expected to contest from Pauri-Garhwal in Uttarakhand while health minister Mandaviya and fisheries minister Rupala can enter the fray from Bhavnagar or Amreli, in Gujarat.
Chandrasekhar, who was elected from Karnataka, is being considered for Thiruvananthapuram seat represented by Congress’s Shashi Tharoor.
Besides them, MSME minister Narayan Rane, junior minister for external affairs V Muraleedharan, former Bihar deputy CM Sushil Modi and former Union minister Prakash Javadekar were among the exclusions.
Nadda was allotted one of the berths from Gujarat because of BJP’s depleted numbers in Himachal Pradesh, his home state from where he was elected. While Chavan, who hopped across from Congress on Monday, has expectedly been accommodated in Maharashtra, CM Eknath Shinde has kept his promise of an RS berth for Milind Deora, also a recent induction from the opposition. NCP (Ajit) has nominated Praful Patel for the seat the latter held, a decision which underlined the resilience of the former Union minister as well as that Ajit Pawar considers Patel to be just as useful as his estranged uncle Sharad Pawar.
The speculation about Union ministers from Rajya Sabha who have not made it to the list contesting LS polls is in line with PM Modi’s recent assertion that it was time for many to take the journey from Rajya Sabha to “Jan Sabha”. No Rajya Sabha member of the party who has served two or more terms has been repeated except Nadda, who is set for a third term.
The break-up of the 28 candidates underscores BJP’s determination to recognise its grassroots organisation workers, as well as its desire to expand its base to new social constituencies and promote women. Three of the new names — Dharmshila Gupta of Bihar, Medha Kulkarni of Maharashtra and Maya Naroliya of MP — are associated with the party’s Mahila Morcha (women’s wing), an ode to Modi’s repeated stress on the higher approval BJP enjoys among women voters.
Among the 28 retiring members, only four have been renominated as the party brass has sent an unambiguous signal that its RS members can’t take their high-profile perch for granted and are expected to use the platform to connect with the masses and cultivate constituencies of their own.