Rajya Sabha race: Ram Madhav, Sushil Modi may get ticket

NEW DELHI: With four Rajya Sabha seats up for grabs for BJP next month, names of two of the party's general secretaries - Ram Madhav and Murlidhar Rao - are being considered by its leadership, it has been learnt.

Other than the two party general secretaries, names of BJP national vice-president Vinay Sahasrabuddhe and Bihar's former deputy chief minister Sushil Modi are also being discussed as probables for RS membership.

The list of candidates will, however, be finalised at the party's parliamentary board meeting, headed by BJP chief Amit Shah, in the presence of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

The meeting is likely to take place before the end of this month, close to the last date of filing nominations. Ministers in the the Modi government - M Venkaiah Naidu and Nirmala Sitharaman - are among those whose terms are getting over and would get the nod to continue as members of the House.

Madhav, who moved from RSS and joined BJP as general secretary in Shah's team after the Modi government came to office in 2014, has been handling crucial external affairs issues for the PM, as well as political assignments like elections in Jammu and Kashmir and Assam.

Rao, who has been incharge of southern states like Kerala (earlier), Tamil Nadu and Karnataka, where BJP has improved its position in terms of the party's presence, came into BJP from the Sangh-affiliated Swadeshi Jagaran Manch six years ago when Rajnath Singh was the party chief.