The BJP is considering the names of cricketer Kapil Dev and actress Madhuri Dixit to fill up seats vacated in the Upper House by celebrities like Sachin Tendulkar and Rekha.
The names for four Rajya Sabha (RS) vacancies would be finalised before the Monsoon Session of Parliament, beginning July 18.
The BJP is also firming up its strategy for the election to the post of RS Deputy Chairperson. The post has fallen vacant due to the end of PJ Kurein’s term.
The BJP, which has the largest number in the RS at 69 as against Congress’ 51, is determined to not allow the Congress have its candidate as Deputy Chairman. The BJP may even support a non-Congress Opposition candidate for the post, sources said.
As for choosing nominated members, the party is actively considering around a dozen names who have distinguished themselves in different spheres of activities. There are four vacancies which need to be filled as the RS terms of former cricketer Tendulkar, film diva Rekha and industrialist Anu Agha ended a few weeks ago. legal eagle K Parasaran’s term, under the same category, is set to end on June 29.
Asked about Kapil and Madhuri replacing Tendulkar and Rekha, a senior party leader said, “They are credible figures and celebrities in their own rights.” He went on to add that that about a dozen names are under scrutiny.
Actor Anupam Kher, whose wife Kiron Kher is already a lok Sabha MP from Chandigarh, has also been a favourite of the party from the Mumbai filmdom.
Marathi playwright Babasaheb Purandare, who wrote Zhanta Raja on the life of Maratha king Shivaji, is understood to be in the list of probables. “There could still be a last minute surprises,” said a senior leader.
Kapil, a former all-rounder test player, hails from Haryana and may fit the bill as someone with a major following. Madhuri happens to be brand ambassador of the Modi Government’s “Beti Bachao Beti Padhao” programme.
Kapil and Madhuri were recently visited by BJP president Amit Shah in the ongoing ‘Sampark for Samarthan’ campaign in their Gurgaon and Mumbai residences respectively.
Sources in the BJP claimed that every nomination of the BJP carries a strong political and social message and that would continue in respect of nomination for these vacancies. They said Ram Nath Kovind’s selection as President of India had sent a strong social and political message across the country.
For Deputy Chairman’s post in the RS, the BJP has kept its options open as Congress seeks to retain the post that it kept for over four decades.
Since 1977, when Congress leader Ram Niwas Mirdha occupied the position, all deputy chairpersons have been nominees from the Congress. The trend continued even after the BJP’s Bhairon Singh Shekhawat in 2002 became the first BJP politician to be elected vice-president.
