NEW DELHI: In a bizarre twist, there were no takers for a Rajya Sabha seat from Uttar Pradesh. The seat that fell vacant after Manohar Parrikar went to Goa as chief minister last September, was up for grabs, but nobody was willing to take it. Eventually, the BJP named newly-appointed Union Minister for Urban Affairs Hardeep Singh Puri for the lone seat.
Sources said that the main reason for leaders’ reluctance to take the seat is that its half term is over—it ends in September 2020. The bypoll to the seat is scheduled on January 16. While the tenure of a Rajya Sabha seat is six years, the representative from this seat will have only two years and nine months.
Sources in the BJP said leaders are looking at 10 seats in the Upper House that will fall vacant in April 2018. While Uttar Pradesh has 11 members in the Rajya Sabha, BJP is set to get most of the seats because of its huge majority in the Uttar Pradesh Assembly.
Sources said diplomat-turned-politician Puri’s name was decided a few days ago by BJP general secretary J P Nadda.
In November, the BJP had nominated newly-appointed tourism minister K J Alphonse for a Rajasthan seat which fell vacant after M Venkaiah Naidu became Vice-President. Alphonse and Puri had joined the Cabinet in a recent rejig.