Madhya Pradesh govt crisis: BJP may nominate Jyotiraditya Scindia, Ram Madhav for Rajya Sabha

Former Union minister Jyotiraditya Scindia, who resigned from Congress on Tuesday could be one of the two Rajya Sabha candidates of the BJP in Madhya Pradesh. For the second seat, the name of BJP general secretary Ram Madhav is being widely speculated.

The issue of Rajya Sabha election has been discussed in the Central Election Committee meeting of the BJP attended by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Home Minister Amit Shah, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh and BJP chief J P Nadda.

BJP has decided to contest for two of three Rajya Sabha seats, which will go to polls on March 26. As per the earlier numbers, BJP required the support of nine additional MLAs to win a second seat but with the resignation of more than 20 MLAs on Tuesday after Scindia’s exit from the Congress, the arithmetic for Rajya Sabha election has changed. The BJP can now easily get two candidates elected for the Rajya Sabha.

Follow live developments of the Madhya Pradesh government crisis here

While Scindia could get Rajya Sabha nomination under the agreement reached with the BJP for a seat in the Upper House and the portfolio of a Cabinet minister, Madhav, a former RSS Pracharak could be rewarded for the role played by him in Jammu and Kashmir affairs and expanding BJP’s footprint in the Northeast including Assam, where the BJP formed first government in 2016.

Two former chief ministers Raman Singh of Chattisgarh and Raghubar Das of Jharkhand may be inducted in this round for Rajya Sabha polls for 55 seats in 17 states.

On March 13, the last date of nomination filing, names of candidates will be announced. The BJP is likely to win a little more than a dozen seats in this round of Rajya Sabha polls. As many as 14 members of BJP are retiring from Rajya Sabha this time.