BJP leaders in race for Deora’s Rajya Sabha seat

With the death of Congress MP Murli Deora, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) now has an opportunity to send a leader from the state to the Rajya Sabha.

With the death of Congress MP Murli Deora, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) now has an opportunity to send a leader from the state to the Rajya Sabha.

The vacancy that has been created will be filled through a bypoll, according to the Election Commission’s directives.

Insiders said the party’s national vice-president Vinay Sahasrabuddhe and state BJP treasurer Shaina NC were in the race for the candidature. Railways minister Suresh Prabhu, also from Maharashtra, will be the party’s candidate for the RS bypolls in Haryana, for which the nominations close on Tuesday.

One more BJP candidate is expected to get elected from Haryana, thus increasing the BJP’s strength in the upper house, where it is in minority and faces difficulty in getting bills passed.

The BJP can easily get its candidate elected because it has 122 (including one from its ally) members in the Assembly, who will vote in the RS polls.

Other parties may not even field a candidate in view of their inadequate strength.

If the bypoll is held in a couple of months, the new MP will have about five years at his disposal. The late Deora had more than five years remaining for his term to get completed.

Deora was elected unopposed in January this year, along with six others including NPC boss Sharad Pawar in the biennial polls.

Majid Memon (NCP), Hussain Dalwai (Congress), Rajkumar Dhoot (Shiv Sena), Sanjay Kakade (Independent) and RPI leader Ramdas Athavale were others to get to the upper house.