Union Minister Prakash Javadekar will get a Rajya Sabha berth from Madhya Pradesh after his name has been finalized by the BJP on Friday. As soon as the schedule regarding filling the only vacancy was announced, it was certain that one of the two Union Ministers, Javadekar and Nirmala Sitaraman, would be fielded from MP.
The BJP decided to nominate Javadekar as its nominee for the Upper House from Madhya Pradesh, where the seat had fallen vacant after Faggan Singh Kulaste was elected to the lok Sabha. The election is slated for June 19. The process of filing nominations for the election to the Council of States has started and the last date is June 9.
Javadekar would arrive here on Saturday morning and file the nomination papers. Soon after the nomination, he would leave for Mumbai, in the afternoon.
Notably, Javadekar had missed his re-nomination to the Rajya Sabha from his home state of Maharashtra after the party decided to give the seat to its ally Ramdas Athawale of the Republican Party of India (A).
After being sworn in as the Union Minister of State for Information and Broadcasting and Environment and Forests (Independent Charge), Javadekar had to be a member of either of the two Houses within a period of six months.
After Javadekar is elected Rajya Sabha member from Madhya Pradesh, there would be five Union Ministers from the State. At present, there are Sushma Swaraj, Najma Heptullah, Narendra Singh and Thavarchand Gehlot, who represent Madhya Pradesh.
Besides, the post of lok Sabha Speaker has also come to Madhya Pradesh. This way, the representation of the State at Centre has become quite strong.