The elections to 57 seats of the Rajya Sabha are due on June 10. The BJP has issued a list of 16 names from eight states.

In U.P., the BJP has fielded six candidates, including Laxmikant Bajpai, former President of BJP U.P. and Radhamohan Das Agrawal, four-time MLA from Gorakhpur Urban seat. The selection of the two veteran leaders seems to have sent out a message of the party promoting loyalty, hard work and discipline.

Bajpai has been with the BJP since Jan Sangh days. He has fought multiple elections on a BJP ticket and has also led the party in the state as its state president. In the 2014 general elections, he led the party to a sweeping victory in U.P, winning 71 seats out of 80. He lost from Meerut seat in the 2017 state elections, even though BJP formed the government.

Post-2017, Bajpai did not hold any position within the party or the government but worked silently in the background. The 70-year-old again came into the limelight, when he was given the charge of BJP’s Joining Committee before the 2022 state elections. The Committee was responsible for screening possible high-profile candidates before they joined the BJP.

Bajpai is also a prominent Brahmin face of the party in western UP. His nomination is also being seen as BJP’s strategy to consolidate the community’s support for the 2024 general elections.

Radhamohan Das Agrawal has been winning elections from Gorakhpur Urban since 2002. However, in 2022 he vacated his seat for CM Yogi Adityanath.

Agrawal was brought into the electoral fray by CM Adityanath. During his tenure as an MLA, he hit headlines, several times, for his straight talk on bureaucratic delays and open conflicts with people within the BJP.

However, when he was asked to step aside for Yogi Adityanath, Agrawal welcomed the party’s decision and denied any possibility of him joining any other political party. CM Yogi Adityanath won handsomely, with over one lakh votes, from Gorakhpur Urban in 2022 elections.

Apart from the above two, the BJP has nominated Surendra Singh Nagar, Baburam Nishad, Darshna Singh, and Sangeeta Yadav from U.P.

Laxmikant Bajpai

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