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Rajya Sabha polls: List of nominees who jumped ship from the Congress
The Election Commission has scheduled the Rajya Sabha elections for 15 states, including Uttar Pradesh, for February 27.
Political parties have started to announce their candidates for the Rajya Sabha elections from different states.
The Election Commission has scheduled the polling for Rajya Sabha elections in 15 states, including Uttar Pradesh, for February 27. Voting will take place from 9 am to 4 pm. The deadline for filing nominations is set for February 15.
The term for Rajya Sabha MPs is six years and elections are held after every two years for 33 per cent of the seats. Currently, the Rajya Sabha has a strength of 245 members.
Among the candidates announced by the parties are also those who had jumped ships from the Congress recently or in the past.
Here we take a look at the Rajya Sabha candidates who have joined the BJP from the Congress:
Ashok Chavan, Maharashtra
The BJP on Wednesday fielded Congress turncoat Ashok Chavan from Maharashtra.
Chavan's candidature for the Rajya Sabha elections was announced a day after he joined the BJP following his exit from Congress.
After joining the BJP, Chavan said he left the Congress after observing the mood of the nation.
"In politics, you need to understand the mood of the nation. Considering the mood of the people, I decided to join the BJP. I won't comment on Congress, whatever happens in Congress it will be their karma. I respect Sonia Gandhi. I have just left the party, and I am not so big to comment on her," he said.
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Chavan's move follows the recent departures of senior Maharashtra Congress figures Baba Siddique and Milind Deora. While Siddique joined Ajit Pawar-led Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), Deora switched to Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena.
Milind Deora, Maharashtra
Maharashtra chief minister Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena on Wednesday has named Milind Deora as its candidate for the upcoming Rajya Sabha elections.
Deora, who recently switched from Congress breaking decades-old family ties with the grand old party, will file his nomination on February 15.
Deora, a former Union minister, joined the Shiv Sena only last month. While he has been a two-time Lok Sabha member from Mumbai, this will be Deora's first election for the Upper House.
Justifying his move, the former Congress leader had said that the grand old party has deviated from its ideological and organisational roots, "fostering" caste divisions and targeting business houses.
“The Congress is not what it used to be in 1968 when my father joined, or in 2004 when I joined,” he said. “The party which ushered in economic reforms 30 years ago under the leadership of Manmohan Singh today abuses businessmen and industrialists. It calls them anti-national and criticises everything done by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.”
RPN Singh, Uttar Pradesh
Former union minister RPN Singh was nominated by the BJP from Uttar Pradesh last week.
RPN Singh, who comes from the politically important Kurmi caste, was in the Congress before joining the BJP in 2022.
Singh, the former MP from Padrauna, in Uttar Pradesh, is from the Sainthwar royal family that ruled the region once, although he lost the 2014 and 2019 Lok Sabha elections.
Singh was nominated along with other BJP leaders Sudhanshu Trivedi, Chaudhary Tejveer Singh, Sadhna Singh, Amarpal Maurya, Sangita Balwant and Navin Jain.
