BJP names 8 new Rajya Sabha candidates from UP, leaves out Hardeep Singh Puri and BL Verma

New Delhi: The BJP on Monday announced its list of eight candidates for the Rajya Sabha biennial elections from Uttar Pradesh, factoring in caste equations and choosing only leaders from the state, keeping the forthcoming UP assembly polls in mind. Union ministers Hardeep Singh Puri and BL Verma, as well as former party general secretary Arun Singh, Brij Lal and Neeraj Shekhar, have been denied another term, leading to fresh speculation that a cabinet reshuffle may be in the offing.

The BJP has given primacy to Dalit and backward caste leaders in its list of candidates from UP. Dharampal Singh, animal husbandry minister in the state government and a member of the Lodh backward caste, has been given the ticket. He is a three-term MLA from the Aaonla seat.

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Former Union minister Santosh Gangwar's daughter Shruti is also a candidate. She hails from the Kurmi community.

Two Dalit leaders, Vidyasagar Sonkar and Priyanka Singh Rawat, have also been fielded. Rawat had defeated PL Punia of the Congress in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections from the Barabanki (SC) seat. However, she was denied a ticket in the 2019 and 2024 elections. Prakash Pal, who hails from the Gaderia Most Backward Caste, has also been given a ticket. Currently, he is the BJP OBC Morcha chief in UP and hails from Bundelkhand region.

The list also includes two Brahmin candidates - Radhakant Ojha and Gopi Krishna Pandey. Ram Pratap Singh Chauhan, a BJP leader from Agra who served as the MLA from the Etmadpur seat from 2017 to 2022, is the lone Rajput in the list.

The BJP has not fielded any candidate from outside the state this time and has not repeated any of its outgoing members in the Upper House. Petroleum and Natural Gas Minister Hardeep Singh Puri, who is completing two consecutive terms in the Rajya Sabha, has not been given a ticket this time. BL Verma, Minister of State for Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution and Social Justice and Empowerment, has also been dropped. A Kurmi leader from Badaun in UP, he became a Rajya Sabha member in 2020.

This has led to speculation that the rejig of the Union Council of Ministers may finally happen sometime after October 11, when the auspicious Navratra period begins.

Former BJP general secretary Arun Singh is also making an exit after completing two consecutive Rajya Sabha terms from 2014 onwards. Neeraj Shekhar, who contested unsuccessfully from his late father and former PM Chandrashekhar's erstwhile seat Ballia on a BJP ticket against SP candidate Sanatan Pandey, has been denied another Rajya Sabha term.

Former ADGP Brij Lal has also not been repeated after one term. Another outgoing member, Dinesh Sharma, former Deputy CM of UP, has already been appointed Lieutenant Governor of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, days before his term was to end.

Seema Dwivedi and Geeta alias Chandraprabha are the other two outgoing BJP Rajya Sabha MPs who have been benched.