BJP may field Jaishankar as Rajya Sabha candidate from Gujarat

The BJP is likely to field External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar as its nominee for Rajya Sabha from Gujarat and Ram Vilas Paswan as NDA’s candidate from Bihar, sources said on Tuesday (June 4).

Three seats in Rajya Sabha belonging to the BJP got vacant after party chief Amit Shah, Union ministers Ravi Shankar Prasad and Smriti Irani got elected to Lok Sabha.

Paswan and Jaishankar need to get elected to either house of the Parliament within six months as they were appointed Cabinet ministers.

Once nominated, both the ministers are likely to get elected to the Upper House as the NDA enjoys clear majority in Bihar, while the BJP is in power in Gujarat.

According to sources, the party was also considering to nominate Jaishankar from Tamil Nadu, his home state, as six Rajya Sabha seats are getting vacant from the state in July this year. BJP’s ally AIADMK is in power in Tamil Nadu.

While Paswan has been parliamentarian for decades, it will be the first time when diplomat-turned-politician Jaishankar will become the Member of Parliament.

He was Foreign Secretary during the first tenure of the Modi government.