BJP likely to field 90% of ministers who are Rajya Sabha MPs

Tribune News Service

Aditi Tandon

New Delhi, February 5

About 90 per cent ministers who are Rajya Sabha members are likely to be fielded in the upcoming Lok Sabha elections, with the ruling BJP of the view that the government’s public faces must prove their electoral mettle.

The list of RS MP minister-contestants could include big faces such as Piyush Goyal (Commerce Minister), Dharmendra Pradhan (Education), Mansukh Mandaviya (Health), Hardeep Puri (Urban Development), Bhupender Yadav (Environment) and Rajeev Chandrasekhar (MoS, IT and Electronics).

Asked if Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman could be fielded too, a source said, “Although the thinking is that ministers who have served as RS MPs for two or more terms should contest, some could be spared in case they were already handling major responsibilities in the government or the organisation.”

The signal was Sitharaman could fit in the exempted category even though the BJP is scouting for a seat for her. External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar recently got his second RS nomination and may not be fielded.

Sitharaman will complete her third term in 2028. Goyal’s third term (currently from Maharashtra) ends in 2028. Yadav (an MP from Rajasthan), Pradhan and Mandaviya will complete their second term this year. Puri will complete his second RS term in 2026. Chandrasekhar is into his third RS term from Karnataka.

Other BJP RS MPs with over one term are former minister Prakash Javadekar, whose third term ends in 2024; Bhubaneswar Kalita, whose fifth term ends in 2026; SS Nagar (from UP), completing his third term in 2028; CM Ramesh (from AP), completing the third term in 2024; Neeraj Shekhar (from UP), whose third term ends in 2026; and BJP general secretary Arun Singh, whose second term ends in 2026. Asked if BJP president JP Nadda, whose second RS term from Himachal ends in April, would contest, a source did not comment.

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