New Delhi: The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Saturday declared Union Ministers Sarbananda Sonowal and L. Murugan as its candidates for Rajya Sabha by-polls from Assam and Madhya Pradesh respectively.
Inducted into the Council of Ministers by Prime Minister Narendra Modi earlier in July, the two leaders will have to become the Members of Parliament within six months.
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Sonowal, who is Minister of Ports, Shipping and Waterways and Minister of AYUSH, thanked Prime Minister Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah besides others for nominating him as a candidate from Assam for the Rajya Sabha by-polls.
“I would like to thank PM Modi, BJP president JP Nadda, HM Amit Shah, senior leader BL Santosh and others for giving me this opportunity. I will work for the country with utmost devotion and honesty in the coming days,” the former Assam chief minister said, ANI reported.
Murugan, currently serving as the Minister of State in the Ministry of Fisheries, Animal Husbandry and Dairying and Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, was earlier the chief of BJP’s Tamil Nadu unit.
Sonowal and Murugan are almost certain to become the Rajya Sabha members as the BJP has a majority in the assembly of both states.
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A Rajya Sabha seat fell vacant in Assam due to the resignation of Biswajit Daimary, who has become the speaker of the assembly.
In Madhya Pradesh, a seat in the Rajya Sabha fell vacant following the resignation of the then Union Minister Thaawar Chand Gehlot, who has been made the Governor of Karnataka.