Lobbying for 10 Rajya Sabha seats from Uttar Pradesh has intensified, sources at various political parties said on Tuesday. A vote is expected to determine the political fortunes of senior politicians like Rashtriya Lok Dal (RJD) chief Ajit Singh.
The BSP has six sitting members in the upper house of Parliament, the SP two and the Congress and the BJP have one each. Their term ends on November 25 and the elections were announced Monday.
Political sources said Ajit Singh and former Samajwadi Party leader Amar Singh are in race for the upper house of Parliament.
With 235 MLAs, the SP is in a position to send at least six members to the RS. Sources said former MP Reoti Raman Singh, Neeraj Shekhar and Bhagwati Singh are also
strong contenders.
Former Congress ministers in the erstwhile UPA government — Beni Prasad Verma, RPN Singh, Sri Prakash Jaiswal and Jitin Prasada — are also in the race. Congress has only 28 members in the UP assembly but the party hopes to send one member with the support of the RLD that has eight members.
The terms of six BSP members —Akhilesh Das, Avtar Singh Karimpuri, Brijlal Khabari, Brijesh Pathak, Raja Ram and Veer Singh — are also ending next month. With 80 members in the legislative assembly, the BSP can send only two candidates. A BSP leader said party chief Mayawati might send Brahmin face Brijesh Pathak and young Dalit leader Raja Ram to the upper house.
{{/usCountry}}The terms of six BSP members —Akhilesh Das, Avtar Singh Karimpuri, Brijlal Khabari, Brijesh Pathak, Raja Ram and Veer Singh — are also ending next month. With 80 members in the legislative assembly, the BSP can send only two candidates. A BSP leader said party chief Mayawati might send Brahmin face Brijesh Pathak and young Dalit leader Raja Ram to the upper house.
{{/usCountry}}Lobbying has also intensified in the BJP with the term of one member Kusum Rai ending in November. With 43 MLAs, the BJP is in a position to send one candidate. Rai is again lobbying for the ticket.
The other BJP candidate in the race is Sudhanshu Trivedi, considered close to Union home minister Rajnath Singh.