Ahmedabad: S Jaishankar to file RS papers today

GANDHINGAR/AHMEDABAD: The Bharatiya Janata Party and Congress on Monday worked out their strategies for the high-stakes Rajya Sabha bypolls for two vacant seats in Gujarat, even as the Supreme Court will on Tuesday hear a petition challenging the ‘separate elections’ for the two seats.

External affairs minister (EAM) S Jaishankar, who arrived in Ahmedabad on Monday evening, will file his nomination papers on Tuesday.The BJP has named OBC leader Jugalji Lokhandwala (Thakor) as its second candidate. Thakor, 48, is state OBC Morcha secretary of the BJP. Both candidates will file their nominations at 11.30am on Tuesday, before which they will meet chief minister Vijay Rupani at 9.30 am, Gujarat BJP president Jitu Vaghani said.
The Congress, meanwhile, had not named it’s candidate till late on Monday. Top sources said Congress’s choice will hinge on the outcome of the SC hearing. A meeting of Congress MLAs and office bearers was held in Gandhingar on Monday afternoon. Eight Congress MLAs, including Alpesh Thakor, did not turn up at the meeting, which was chaired by leader of the opposition Paresh Dhanani. Congress leaders justified the absences saying that apart from Thakor, whose joining the BJP is imminent, all the sought permission to remain absent as they were occupied with other matters or couldn’t get to Gandhingar on time.
Congress sources said that the party has worked strategies for both possible outcomes of the Supreme Court hearing. If the Supreme Court decides in the Congress’s favour and disallows separate polls for the two seats, the Congress is expected to field a senior national leader. If the Congress’ petition is disallowed, two of the five Gujarat Congress leaders whose names have been sent to the central leadership as probables, will be named as candidates.
The five local leaders whose names have been sent to the central leadership are Babubhai Patel, Manish Doshi, Gaurav Pandya, Chandrika Chudasama and Karsandas Soneri. S Jaishankar formally joined the BJP in the presence of party working president J P Nadda in Delhi on Monday. A former foreign secretary, Jaishankar was sworn in as cabinet minister on May 30 and needs to become an MP within six months of his swearing in.
The bypolls for the two vacant Rajya Sabha seats in Gujarat will be held on July 5. The seats were vacated by Amit Shah and Smriti Irani, both of whom won their Lok Sabha seats, Gandhingar and Amethi, respectively. The ECI announced a schedule for Rajya Sabha bypolls for a total of six seats across the country. The last date for filing nominations is Tuesday, June 25. Candidates can withdraw nominations by June 28 and voting will be held at the Gujarat Vidhan Sabha between 9am and 4pm on July 5.