Popular TV actor Smriti "Tulsi" Irani's name is doing the rounds in BJP circles as one of the nominees for the Rajya Sabha election. The BJP will contest in three seats in the biennial polls, what with the terms of incumbent RS members Keshubhai Patel and Jayanti Barot expiring, and that of Jana Krishnamoorthy lying vacant as a result of his demise. The Congress will be in the fray for one seat that will fall vacant after the six-year term of the party's lone woman RS member from Gujarat, Alka Kshatriya, expires.

According to BJP sources, besides being close to Narendra Modi, Irani had extensively campaigned for the party in the last Assembly elections in Gujarat where woman voters had played a crucial role in the party's victory. The party sources said despite the fact that former CM Keshubhai Patel had lent his tacit support to the rebels during the December Assembly polls, Modi could recommend his name for a re-nomination to the Upper House.