LUCKNOW: The Yogi Adityanath government is believed to have sent the names of AMU Vice-Chancellor Prof Tariq Mansoor and Saket Mishra, the son of a senior ex-IAS officer and chairperson of the construction committee of Ram temple trust, Nripendra Mishra, as part of the proposal of six names to Governor Anandiben Patel to nominate to the UP legislative council.
Half a dozen seats have been lying vacant in UP Vidhan Parishad since April-May last year. While there was no official word from the state government, it is also learnt to have proposed the name of BJP’s former Braj region president Rajnikant Maheswari and BJP’s Varanasi district president Hansraj Vishwakarma for the state’s Upper House.
Amongst the rest two, the state government has suggested the name of Lalji Prasad Nirmal, who heads UP SC/ST Finance and Development Corporation, and Ram Surat Rajbhar, an advocate and a BJP functionary from Gorakhpur, sources said.
The members of all the six seats have to be nominated by the State Governor. Thus, the proposed list of candidates to be nominated includes a Brahmin, a Vaishya, two OBCs, a Dalit and a Muslim in an attempt to strike a balance among various sections with an eye on the fast-approaching urban local bodies elections and subsequent Lok Sabha elections due next year.
Prof Tariq Mansoor is a top medical professional who has also been a member of the Medical Council of India. He has also been in the Board of Governors of the Indian Institute of Management, Lucknow, and the Governing Body of the Maulana Azad Education Foundation and the National Monitoring Committee for Minorities Education.