on Thursday announced 11 candidates for the upcoming biennial elections to which included both trusted party hands and recent entrant rebel for a bypoll in Odisha.
In addition to two prominent women leaders — the BJP’s Manipur president A Sharda Devi and national general secretary Alka Gurjar — the list also included national secretary and Rajasthan strongman .
BJP sources said these picks underlined the party’s commitment to rewarding loyal party hands who had dedicated their lives to the party and its organisation since their formative years.
On the other hand, Samantaray, who had quit the BJD and entered the BJP’s fold last month, was said to have been rewarded by being fielded for a bypoll from the state, further weakening the BJP’s longstanding former ally in Odisha.
As many as 34 seats in the Upper House will see retirements this year of which 19 belong to Uttar Pradesh; four each to Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Gujarat, three to Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan respectively, two to Mizoram and one each from Uttarakhand, Jharkhand, Meghalaya and Arunachal Pradesh.
The BJP currently has 113 members in the Upper House, with the NDA tally at 148 as part of the 245-member Rajya Sabha.
BJP leaders such as Minister of State for Railways and Food Processing Industries Ravneet Singh Bittu, NDA constituent Janata Dal (Secular) chief and former Prime Minister HD Devegowda, opposition MP Digvijaya Singh and Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge will retire in June.
Union Petroleum and Natural Gas Minister Hardeep Singh Puri, former Uttar Pradesh Deputy Chief Minister Dinesh Sharma, BJP national general secretary Arun Singh and Samajwadi Party stalwart Prof. Ram Gopal Yadav are scheduled to vacate their seats in November.
