BJP chief Amit Shah will contest the biennial election to the Rajya Sabha from Gujarat, the party announced yesterday.
Shah, currently a legislator in Gujarat, will be making his debut in Parliament once he is elected, given the numbers the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party enjoys in the state assembly.
Union Textile Minister Smriti Irani, currently a Rajya Sabha member from Gujarat, has been re-nominated for the other seat.
The announcements were made by Union Minister J P Nadda after a meeting of the BJP parliamentary board here yesterday evening.
Nadda also announced the candidature of Sampatia Uike, a woman tribal leader from Mahakoshal region, from Madhya Pradesh in a by-election to the Rajya Sabha from the state.
Meanwhile, the Congress heaved a sigh of relief after rebel leader Shankersinh Vaghela pledged support to Congress president Sonia Gandhi’s political secretary Ahmed Patel who filed his nomination for the August 8 Rajya Sabha election in Gandhinagar.
Allaying fears that he might influence a section of legislators to vote against Patel, Vaghela, who quit the Congress on his 77th birthday on July 21, said: “I will vote for Patel provided Ashok Gehlot (party general secretary in charge of Gujarat) withdraws his irresponsible statements of Tuesday when he spoke of Central Bureau of Investigation and enforcement directorate raids on me.
“I have known Ahmed since 1977. He even came to my house last night and offered that I contest the Rajya Sabha seat but I told him the seat is earmarked for him. My vote is reserved for Ahmed,” Vaghela added.
Vaghela asserted that for this, Gehlot would have to withdraw his “irresponsible statements made without checking facts and defaming someone. This holds for other leaders too. Otherwise, I will resign even before the Rajya Sabha election”.
Vaghela, who quit as leader of opposition, had said he will continue as an MLA till the elections to the Upper House on August 8. He is believed to have the backing of at least a dozen MLAs.
The maverick leader was referring to an old case of 2004 when as the Union textiles minister he was accused of cheaply selling prime land of the National Textiles Corp (NTC) in Mumbai leading to a loss of Rs7bn to the exchequer.
Gehlot had on Tuesday claimed that Vaghela was under pressure to cause harm to the Congress because of a threat of raids by the CBI and enforcement directorate in the NTC case.
Vaghela’s leaving the party days after as many as 11 party legislators cross-voted for NDA Presidential nominee Ram Nath Kovind had raised apprehensions that Ahmed Patel might not get the 46 first preference votes required to be elected to the Rajya Sabha.
The Congress has 57 members in the 182-member House.
BJP chief Amit Shah calls on President Ram Nath Kovind at Rashtrapati Bhavan in New Delhi yesterday.
