Ketkar, Singhvi among Cong RS candidates
Singhvi's name was officially announced on Sunday night though his candidature from West Bengal was in public domain after Trinamool Congress announced its support to Congress. File photo.
Senior Congress leader Abhishek Singhvi, veteran journalist Kumar Ketkar and former Union Minister Naranbhai Rathwa are among those chosen by the Congress on Sunday for Rajya Sabha polls.
Singhvi's name was officially announced on Sunday night though his candidature from West Bengal was in public domain after Trinamool Congress announced its support to Congress.
Ketkar, a veteran Marathi journalist and a staunch BJP critic, will fight on a Congress ticket from Maharashtra. Former Union Minister Naranbhai Rathwa and party media panellist Amee Yagnik are fielded from Gujarat.
Other candidates include Dhiraj Prasad Sahu (Jharkhand), Rajmani Patel (Madhya Pradesh) and Porika Balram Naik (Telangana). While Sahu is a former Rajya Sabha member, Patel is a prominent Congress leader in Madhya Pradesh.
Patel's candidature comes as BSP announced its support for the Congress candidate from MP. In return, Congress will support the BSP candidate from Uttar Pradesh. Naik is a Police Constable-turned-politician.
BJP on Sunday night nominated former Kerala unit chief V Muralidharan from Maharashtra in its bid to expand its base in the state.
Prominent names in the list include Konkan strongman Narayan Rane (Maharashtra), who quit Congress last year, Kirori Lal Meena (Rajasthan), BJP's prominent TV-face GVL Narasimha Rao (Uttar Pradesh), National General Secretary Anil Jain (UP) and national media coordinator Anil Baluni (Uttarakhand).
The list showed BJP's electoral plans - Rane was brought in to strengthen Maharashtra unit where Shiv Sena is creating trouble, Meena for his utility in bringing his community to the party ahead of Assembly polls and Muralidharan to woo Malayalis.
The party also announced the candidature of Muralidharan with an eye on Kerala, where the party wants to expand its footprint following the defeat of the Left Front in Tripura.
Earlier, there was speculation that BJP will field Kerala ally BJDS leader Tushar Vellappally from one of the states but sources said a section in the Kerala leadership was against it and lobbied for a partyman to be considered for Rajya Sabha membership.
Another candidate is Lt Gen (Retd) D P Vats (from Haryana), who was in 2011 appointed by Haryana Public Service Commission Chairman by the then Congress government.
Last Wednesday, the party has announced candidature nine senior ministers and leaders, including Arun Jaitley, J P Nadda and Prakash Javadekar among others.
