Jaitley, Rajnath Singh, Shettigar, Maya Singh in fray for RS polls

Jaitley, Rajnath Singh, Shettigar, Maya Singh in fray for RS polls
HARISH GUPTA

NEW DELHI, MARCH 1: Information and Broadcasting Minister Arun Jaitley, Surface Transport Minister Rajnath Singh, economist Jagdish Shettigar, BJP Mahila Morcha president Maya Singh, Kailash Joshi and Kailashpati Mishra are among the prominent BJP candidates for the biennial Rajya Sabha elections.

Of the 58 RS seats for which elections are to be held on March 29, the BJP is likely to win 15 of them. The BJP high command is already in the process of finalising the names of the candidates. The meeting of the central office-bearers of the party slated to be held on March 3 may set the ball rolling for selection of party candidates.

But a final decision would be taken by the Prime Minister, Atal Behari Vajpayee, Home Minister L K Advani, BJP chief Kushabhau Thakre and top RSS leaders in mutual consultation during the next few days.

As per the assessment made by the party leadership, the BJP is set to win 2 seats each in Bihar and Madhya Pradesh, 5 in UP, 3 in Gujrat and one each in Karntaka, Himachal Pradesh and Maharashtra as per its strength in respective legislatures. The BJP can hope to win one Rajya Sabha in Andhra Pradesh if the ruling Telugu Desham Party agrees to lend some of its extra votes.

Another issue that the BJP and Shiv Sena leadership has to decide together is allocation of ticket to Law Minister Ram Jethmalani. He was elected as an Independent with the Shiv Sena support. The BJP and SS can win one seat each and with the help of their surplus votes can get a joint candidate elected. The SS is keen to accommodate its senior leader Madhukar Sarpotdar who lost during the Lok Sabha polls and its vocal member Sanjay Nirupam, who is also retiring. In the event of a problem, Ram Jethmalani is also hoping to get elected from Andhra Pradesh with the help of surplus BJP votes.

Except for this, the BJP has hardly any problem in the remaining 15 seats. Rajnath Singh is a sitting member of the RS and the BJP is set to renominate him. Other names that are doing the rounds include Shiv Kumar, a personal aide of Vajpayee for four decades, journalist Balbir Punj, N M Ghatate and J P Mathur.

Kailash Joshi, a former Madhya Pradesh chief minister and Maya Singh, president of the BJP mahila morcha are likely to be nominated for the two seats that the BJP is going to win.

Jagdish Shettigar is BJP's chief economic advisor and commands high respect. He has been nominated to the Prime Minister's economic advisory council also. Since the BJP will win one seat from Karnataka, he is set to get a berth.

Of the three seats that the BJP is set to win from Gujrat, one will go to Arun Jaitley. Praful Goradia, who is retiring, is lobbying hard to get a renomination for the second seat. He is editing BJP Today, a BJP mouthpiece. But there are many in the party who feel that despite having a palatial bungalow of his own in the city, he refused to give his official residence to the party. Therefore, no useful purpose will be served by giving him ticket second time.

The BJP is also keen to induct some new faces keeping an eye on elections to be held in four states next year. One of the names being mentioned in this regard is that of film actress Hema Malini who had actively campaigned for the party during the recent polls.

Kailashpati Mishra, BJP's vice president, may also make it to the Rajya Sabha from Bihar. Sushma Swaraj's name is also being mentioned for a Rajya Sabha seat. But her seat is being linked to her eventual induction in the Government later.