Bhopal: The BJP nominated Wednesday four candidates, including a Dalit seer and a farmer leader for the upcoming Rajya Sabha elections to five Rajya Sabha seats from Madhya Pradesh. The Congress meanwhile fielded a local functionary for the remaining Rajya Sabha seat. All the candidates are likely to get elected unopposed.
The BJP nominated the party’s Tamil Nadu leader and Union Minister of State for Information and Broadcasting L Murugan for the Upper House of Parliament from Madhya Pradesh. Apart from him, the saffron party also fielded Dalit seer Umesh Nath Maharaj, backward class woman leader Maya Naroliya and farmer leader Banshilal Gurjar for the Rajya Sabha seats. The Congress nominated its state party unit treasurer Ashok Singh.
A total of five seats are falling vacant in the state. As per the numerical strength, the BJP is set to win four and the Congress one Rajya Sabha seat. The elections are scheduled to be held February 27.
Maharaj is the Peethadheeshwar of the Shri Kshetra Valmiki Dham Ashram in Ujjain. He belongs to the Scheduled Caste (SC) category. During the last Simhastha (Kumbh) mela held in 2016, Union Home Minister Amit Shah not only took a holy dip with Maharaj and his fellow seers on the Valmiki Ghat in the Ujjain district, but also ate food with them, sources in the Dham said.
“I lead a normal life and I have taken it in a normal manner. Saint life is first and foremost for me. That’s why everybody, the entire nation and Avantika (Ujjain) is happy about it,” Maharaj said after his nomination.
Maharaj described Prime Minister Narendra Modi as a man of high thinking, who takes everyone along. “Everybody asks the meaning of ‘taking everyone along’, but there is no need to express it in words,” Maharaj informed.
Meanwhile another BJP candidate Gurjar from Mandsaur said, “The party has given such a big honour to a farmer leader like me. I am grateful for it. I have worked for the cultivators all my life and will continue to do so for their welfare.” He praised Modi for working towards ensuring that farmers get full cost of their produce and they earn 50 per cent profit out of it.
The BJP has also nominated Naroliya, a backward class woman leader for the third seat from the Rajya Sabha in Madhya Pradesh. Naroliya has been the president of the MP BJP women’s wing since 2021.
