Patna: Former pesident of Bihar unit of BJP Gopal Narain Singh has been nominated as the party’s candidate for biennial election to Rajya Sabha. Party on Sunday also announced the name of a fish trader of Mishra Tola, Darbhanga, Arjun Sahni as its nominee for the Vidhan Parishad elections. The party is yet to announce its second candidate for the Parishad polls.
BJP sources said the state election committee had sent names of three candidates: Gopal Narain Singh, former deputy CM Sushil Kumar Modi and former union minister Shahnawaj Hussain to the central election committee. According to JP Nadda, Secretary of the central parliamentary board, Gopal Narain Singh is a veteran party leader and a former MLA too. Gopal Narain Singh had lost assembly elections from Nabinagar in Aurangabad district in 2015. He also runs a medical college in Rohtas district.
For the second seat of Vidhan Parishad, BJP has not announced the name of its candidate as there was shortfall of four votes. Name of Rakesh Tiwari, president of the NRI cell (aprawavi sangh) is in circulation. Union minister Kalraj Mishra, who had come to Patna on Saturday to participated in the Vikash Parva celebrations had gone to Tiwari’s Pataliputra residence for dinner along with other leaders. Term of Harendra Pratap Pandey, another claimant from BJP ticket, is expiring in July.