New Delhi: Muslim poster boys of the Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi and Zafar Islam are missing from the party's list of candidates for the Rajya Sabha polls to be held next month.
Mukhtar Naqvi is a minister in Narendra Modi cabinet since 2014 and Zafar Islam is a Member of Parliament in the Upper House and BJP's national spokesperson.
The BJP has so far released the names of 22 candidates in three lists for the June 10 election.
Besides Union Minority Minister Mukhtar Abbaz Naqvi and Zafar Islam, the list also misses the names of former Union Minister Prakash Javadekar, party national general secretary Dushyant Gautam, former national vice president Dr Vinay Sahastrabuddhe and former Union Minister Shiv Pratap Shukla.
Sources said that Naqvi may be fielded from the Rampur Lok Sabha seat in Uttar Pradesh, a bastion of Azam Khan, for which bypolls are scheduled for June 23. Naqvi is elected to the Upper House from Jharkhand and the BJP has nominated Aditya Sahu from the state this time.
Biennial elections for 57 Rajya Sabha seats will be held across 15 states on June 10.
Former Congress Minister, R.P.N. Singh, who left the Congress to join the BJP ahead of the Uttar Pradesh elections, has also been denied a berth in Rajya Sabha by the saffron party.
R.P.N. Singh before leaving the Congress was Jharkhand in-charge and was considered a probable for the Upper House in the party, but left the Congress after differences over the selection of candidates in his hometurf Padrauna.
Interestingly, Jitin Prasada who left Congress before him was made an MLC and now is a PWD minister in Uttar Pradesh government.
Jyotiraditya Scindia is also a Union Minister and Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma was also originally from the Congress.
For all the latest News, Opinions and Views, download ummid.com App.
Select Language To Read in Urdu, Hindi, Marathi or Arabic.
