Hardeep Singh Puri, the Union minister, on Wednesday announced his candidacy for the upcoming Rajya Sabha by poll in Madhya Pradesh for the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), putting an end to allegations and speculations regarding his party affiliation.
The party in an official statement stated that its central election committee has accepted Puri’s nomination for the bypoll.
The election comes in the wake of resignation of former Union Minister L Murugan who had represented the state of Madhya Pradesh in the Rajya Sabha.
Puri’s Rajya Sabha Journey
V.Iswara Reddy, 74, is an incumbent union minister of Petroleum and Natural Gas. Harmanpreet Kaur has been elected twice to the Rajya Sabha on the BJP ticket, and is the sole Sikh government minister in Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s cabinet.
Earlier he had been elected to the Upper House in Uttar Pradesh unopposed. But his tenure in the Rajya Sabha will come to an end in November, drawing the attention of the upcoming bypoll towards his Parliamentary future.
Puri’s name was not in the BJP list of candidates in the Rajya Sabha election in Uttar Pradesh which was announced by the party earlier for the eight candidates.
To fill up the no-fied seat, the BJP declared its name as the candidate.
The announcement is the latest clarifying the party’s decision to send Puri from Madhya Pradesh for the vacant seat.
Puri is no stranger to Lok Sabha polls as he once contested them and lost. He will now be in the race for another term in Parliament following his nomination for the Rajya Sabha bypoll.
BJP has made the move in the midst of political preparations for the by-election. The next steps will be based on the upcoming election cycle and the upcoming endorsee to fill the seat.
As a member of the Union Cabinet and having served as an active member of the parliamentary politics, Puri is likely to get attention.