7 UP ministers to be named for Vidhan Parishad seats

Lucknow, June 3 Seven ministers in the Yogi Adityanath government, who are not yet members of the state legislature, will now take the Vidhan Parishad route to get elected.

Thirteen seats to the Vidhan Parishad are falling vacant and elections are to be held on June 20.

The BJP, on its strength in the Uttar Pradesh Assembly, can safely send nine members while the Samajwadi pary (SP) can send four members.

The BJP ministers who need to get elected to the Upper House, include deputy Chief Minister Keshav Maurya (who retains his position despite losing the Assembly election), Bhupendra Chaudhary, Narendra Kashyap, J.P.S. Rathore, Jaswant Singh Saini, Danish Azad Ansari and Daya Shankar Mishra Dayalu.

Apart from these seven, the party has a long list of aspirants for the remaining two seats, including veteran leader Shatrudha Prakash, who recently left the Samajwadi Party to join the BJP.

The Samajwadi Party, which has a number of members retiring from the Vidhan Parishad next month, is facing a piquant situation since the Suheldev Bhartiya Samaj Party (SBSP) president Om Prakash Rajbhar is demanding his share this time.

Rajbhar wants a seat for his son Arvind Rajbhar who lost the Assembly polls.

There is also pressure on SP president Akhilesh Yadav to nominate Krishna Patel, who heads the Apna Dal (K) and had lost the Assembly polls.