The nominees will replace four Rajya Sabha members — cricketer Sachin Tendulkar, veteran Bollywood actress Rekha, social activist Anu Agha and renowned veteran lawyer K Parasaran — who retired in April.
President Ram Nath Kovind, on the advice of Narendra Modi government, announced the nomination of four members to the Rajya Sabha on Saturday. They include three-time Dalit MP from Uttar Pradesh Ram Shakal, sculptor from Odisha Raghunath Mohapatra, RSS ideologue Rakesh Sinha and classical dancer Sonal Mansingh.
The nominees will replace four Rajya Sabha members — cricketer Sachin Tendulkar, veteran Bollywood actress Rekha, social activist Anu Agha and renowned veteran lawyer K Parasaran — who retired in April.
The nominations of Ram Shakal and Raghunath Mohapatra are being considered important in view of the upcoming Lok Sabha elections next year.
Three-time MP from Robertsganj, Ram Shakal is from RSS background with strong grassroot links among farmers and Dalits of Uttar Pradesh and can come handy in BJP's bid to woo Dalits and farmers back in its fold to checkmate Akhilesh and Mayawati's emerging alliance.
Internationally acclaimed sculptor Raghunath Mohapatra has worked on beautification of Jagannath temple in Puri and his popularity in the state can certainly help the BJP to make deeper inroads in Odisha where it is trying to dislodge the BJD.
In RSS ideologue Rakesh Sinha, the BJP is looking to add more teeth to its intellectual strength in the Rajya Sabha during ideological debates. Sinha is among few RSS ideologues who claimed to have extensively studied Marxist literature.
Sinha rose to fame in right-wing circles after authoring a book on RSS' founder Hedgewar. He is also founder of India Policy Foundation besides being a member of the Indian Council of Social Science Research (ICSSR) and a professor in Motilal Nehru College of Delhi University.
Renowned Bharatanatyam and Odissi exponent, Sonal Mansingh is considered close to the BJP. She was nominated as one of the Navratnas for the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan in 2014 by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
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