BJP picks Anil Jain, Saroj Pandey, GVL Narasimha Rao, Anil Baluni for Rajya Sabha polls

NEW DELHI: The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Sunday announced its decision to field Anil Jain, Saroj Pandey, GVL Narasimha Rao and Anil Baluni for four of the 58 Rajya Sabha seats for which biennial polls will be held on March 23, sources said.

Earlier this week, the BJP had released a list of candidates for the March 23 Rajya Sabha polls. The party renominated eight retiring members including seven ministers.

Finance Minister Arun Jaitley has been nominated from Uttar Pradesh while Petroleum Minister Dharmendra Pradhan has been shifted to Madhya Pradesh along with Social Justice and Empowerment Minister Thawar Chand Gehlot.

Health Minister JP Nadda has been renominated from Himachal Pradesh and Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad has been renominated from Bihar. Minister of State for Agriculture Parshottam Rupala and Minister of State for Chemical and Fertilizer Mansukh Bhai Mandaviya have been renominated from Gujarat.

Besides these seven ministers, the BJP has renominated its General Secretary Bhupender Yadav from Rajasthan. 

The BJP, on its own, can send back only one of the two retiring members - Prasad and Pradhan - from Bihar. It opted to renominate Prasad from the state and decided to shift Pradhan to MP.