BJP to nominate Javadekar for RS from Madhya Pradesh

Union Minister Prakash Javadekar will get a Rajya Sabha berth from Madhya Pradesh after his name was finalised by the Bharatiya Janata Party on Friday.

BJP decided to nominate Javadekar as its nominee for the Upper House from Madhya Pradesh where the seat had fallen vacant after Faggan Singh Kulaste was elected to the Lok Sabha. The election is slated for June 19.

The party also decided to nominate its leader Prabhar Kore as its Rajya Sabha nominee from Karnataka.

The process of filing nominations for the election to the Council of States has started and the last date is June 9.

Javadekar had missed his renomination to the Rajya Sabha from his home state of Maharashtra after the party decided to give the seat to its ally Ramdas Athawale of Republican Party of India (A).

After being sworn-in as Union Minister of State for Information and Broadcasting and Environment and Forests (Independent Charge), Javadekar has to be a member of either of the two Houses within a period of six months.

Meanwhile, sources said that another Union Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Commerce and Industry Nirmala Sitharaman is also likely to get a Rajya Sabha berth from Andhra Pradesh.

The seat had fallen vacant following the death of N Janardhana Reddy on May 9 but the Election Commission is yet to issue a notification.

The sources added that the party has decided to nominate Sitharaman once the election is notified after N Chandrababu Naidu is sworn in as chief minister.

The BJP has also decided to field K S Eshwarappa as the party nominee for the State Legislative Council (Vidhan Parishad) in Karnataka.