New Delhi: Telugu superstar Chiranjeevi and
Congress spokesperson Renuka Choudhary were among nine
nominated by the party tonight for biennial elections to the
Rajya Sabha while the BJP named two more candidates from Gujarat apart from Arun Jaitley.
The Congress announced senior leader Abdul Mannan as the
party nominee from West Bengal, notwithstanding Trinamool
chief Mamata Banerjee making it clear that her party would not
support any Congress candidate and putting up four of her
nominees.
Chiranjeevi and Choudhary are candidates from Andhra
Pradesh as also Goverdhan Reddy. One candidate from Andhra
Pradesh is yet to be announced, a party release said.
Pradeep Balmuchu has been made candidate from Jharkhand
while Rajya Sabha deputy chairman K K Rehman Khan has been
renominated from Karnataka, Praveen Rashtrapal from Gujarat
and Shadilal Batra from Harayana.
Satyabrat Chaturvedi, a retiring member from Uttarakhand,
has been nominated from his home state of Madhya Pradesh while
Mahendra Singh Mehra is the party nominee from Uttarakhand
where the party is facing a political crisis.
Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha Arun Jaitely, who
has been nominated for the third consecutive term from
Gujarat, is likely to file his nomination papers tomorrow
along with ex-MLA Mansukh Mandaviya and Shankar Vegad, whose
names were announced today by BJP.
Mandaviya (40) is former BJP MLA from Palitana
assembly constituency and is presently the chairperson of the
Gujarat Agro-Industries Corporation. Vegad is the vice
president of the Surendranagar district BJP unit.
Four other BJP candidates, including cash-for vote case
accused Faggan Singh Kulaste, will file their nomination
papers from Madhya Pradesh tomorrow.
The party has nominated former Vice Chairman of the Upper
House Najma Heptulla and senior leaders Kaptan Singh Solanki
along with Kulaste, who was among the three lawmakers who had
waved wads of currency notes in the Lok Sabha during the 2008
trust vote, and Thavar Chand Gehlot.
The last day for filing of nominations for the March 30
elections is March 19.
PTI
