CHANDIGARH: Former Member of Parliament Sanjay Bhatia has been named the BJP candidate for a Rajya Sabha seat from Haryana, in a move that underlines the continuing influence of former Chief Minister and Union Power Minister Manohar Lal Khattar in the state unit of the saffron party.
Meanwhile, in neighbouring Himachal Pradesh, there is “uncertainty” over the Congress candidate for the upcoming election to the Upper House of Parliament.
The nomination of Bhatia from Haryana is seen as a reward for his organisational discipline and massive victory margins in previous Lok Sabha outings.
A close aide of Khattar, Bhatia had earlier been elected as a Lok Sabha MP from Karnal. He made way for Khattar when the latter was fielded by the party from the parliamentary seat.
His nomination underscores the continuing influence Khattar wields in the Haryana unit of the BJP. Bhatia’s name was also among those on the panel sent by the state unit of the party.
Khattar was named the BJP’s Lok Sabha candidate on 13 March 2024 after he quit as Chief Minister in a major shake-up of the state leadership.
The sitting MP from Karnal and now Union Power Minister was replaced as Chief Minister by Nayab Singh Saini.
Two Rajya Sabha seats from Haryana are falling vacant, and the BJP and the Congress are expected to win one each. BJP members Kiran Choudhry and Ram Chander Jangra will complete their terms on 9 April.
The last date for filing nominations is 5 March. In the 90-member Haryana Assembly, the ruling BJP has 48 MLAs, the Congress has 37, the INLD has two, while three Independents support the ruling party.
Thirty-one votes each are required for two candidates to be elected to the Rajya Sabha from Haryana.
Sources said the political buzz in the corridors of power is that an ex-Minister of State in the Bhupinder Singh Hooda-led Congress government, Gopal Kanda, who has moved closer to the ruling BJP in the state over the past year, might enter the fray as an Independent candidate.
Congress leaders allegedly believe the BJP may try to disrupt the Upper House contest from Haryana by backing Kanda’s candidature, despite the fact that the grand old party has the numbers to secure one of the two seats. Thus, the Congress is putting safeguards in place to prevent any attempt to create confusion.
Meanwhile, in neighbouring Himachal Pradesh, there is uncertainty over the Congress candidate for the upcoming election to the Upper House of Parliament.
Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu returned from Delhi on Monday after discussions with the party high command regarding the nominee for the Rajya Sabha election.
The identity of the Congress candidate remains undisclosed. A meeting of the Congress Legislature Party has been scheduled for 5 March, the final day for nomination submissions.
A senior Congress leader said that the high command’s chosen candidate would file the nomination on 5 March.
The term of sitting Rajya Sabha MP from the hill state, Indu Goswami, is ending on 9 April.