The Bharatiya Janata Party's seven Union ministers are set to end there Rajya Sabha terms in April but the party has not renominated them. Reports suggest that these ministers are likely to be fielded in the upcoming Lok Sabha elections.
BJP has 28 MPs out of 56 legislators set to retire in April. However, the party has retained only four of them including two Union ministers: Railways Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw and MoS for Fisheries L. Murugan. The other two are BJP National President J.P. Nadda and party spokesperson Sudhanshu Trivedi. Of these, only Nadda has already served two terms in the Upper House.
Of those nominated newly to the Upper House, none are among BJP's national office bearers.
The ministers who were not renominated to Rajya Sabha include Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan, Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya, Environment Minister Bhupender Yadav, Fisheries Minister Parshottam Rupala, MSME Minister Narayan Rane, Minister of State for External Affairs V. Muraleedharan, Minister of State for IT Rajeev Chandrashekhar.
Other big names that did not find a place in the renomination list are former Union minister Prakash Javadekar, former Bihar deputy CM Sushil Kumar Modi and BJP's chief spokesperson Anil Baluni.
This has raised speculations within BJP circles that several of those who were not retained in Rajya Sabha could be fielded in the Lok Sabha elections. Reports suggest that party is yet to decide on the seat where these potential candidates will be fielded.
February 20 is the last date to withdraw nominations and the voting will be held on February 27. The votes will be counted at 5pm the same day.
