New Delhi: Former Congress Minister, R.P.N. Singh, who left the Congress to join the BJP ahead of the Uttar Pradesh elections, has not been adjusted in the list for the Rajya Sabha polls.
Singh before leaving the Congress was Jharkhand in-charge and was considered a probable for the Upper House in the party, but left the Congress after differences over the selection of candidates in his hometurf Padrauna.
Through a tweet, Singh congratulated the party (BJP) nominees for the Rajya Sabha, “Wishes and Congratulations to BJP candidates for the Rajya Sabha polls.”
Before him Jitin Prasada left and was made an MLC and now is a PWD minister in Uttar Pradesh government. Jyotiraditya Scindia is also a Union Minister and Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma was also originally from the Congress.
Other prominent names, including Union Minister Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi are missing from the BJP’s list of candidates for the Rajya Sabha polls to be held next month.
The BJP has so far released the names of 22 candidates in three lists for the June 10 election.
The list misses the names of Union Minority Affairs Minister Naqvi, former Union Minister Prakash Javadekar, party national general secretary Dushyant Gautam, former national vice president Dr Vinay Sahastrabuddhe, former Union Minister Shiv Pratap Shukla and national spokesperson Syed Zafar Islam.
Sahastrabuddhe is serving as president of Indian Council for Cultural Relations (ICCR).
Sources said that Naqvi may be fielded from the Rampur Lok Sabha seat in Uttar Pradesh for which bypolls are scheduled for June 23. Naqvi is elected to the Upper House from Jharkhand and the BJP has nominated Aditya Sahu from the state this time.
