BJP surprises with 2 new names in RS list

The BJP on Sunday sprung up a surprise in its announcement for Rajya Sabha MPs from the state. While it repeated Arun Jaitley, it announced two new names — Mansukh Mandaviya and Shankar Vegad -as its nominees from the state for the Upper House.
Unlike Jaitley, Vijay Rupani, BJP state general secretary and Surendra Patel, former chairman of Auda were not repeated.
The three nominees will fly down to Ahmedabad on Monday at around 11 am and will file their nominations in the state assembly in the presence of chief minister Narendra Modi and state BJP chief RC Faldu. 

Insiders in the party said that Mandavia and Vegad's names came as a surprise to many because both are not even state-level leaders. They said, both were most likely chosen on chief minister Narendra Modi's insistence.

Mandavia has been a BJP MLA from Palitana in Bhavnagar district from 2001 to 2005. Insiders said it was an attempt to give representation to the Kadva Patels, who are dominant in the Saurashtra region. Vegad has been the vice-president of BJP's unit in Surendranagar and vice-president of Surendranagar municipality for 20 years. He is a Koli Patel, the dominant community in the district.

Insiders said while Jaitley's re-nomination was known, the other two names were kept a secret till the last moment. They added that an extraordinary meeting of the BJP executive will be held in the Gandhinagar at 3 pm on Monday. Sources said at the meeting the party is likely to discuss its poll strategy for the coming elections.

Till late evening on Sunday, the congress candidate was not announced. According to sources, Pravin Rashtrapal is likely to be repeated.