From Our Bureau
NEW DELHI: The Bharatiya Janata Party is contemplating to shift eight union ministers from the Rajya Sabha to contest the Lok Sabha elections in view of its fears that its numbers may dwindle this time in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.
. 
PIYUSH GOYAL
Those identified for the purpose include Piyush Goyal, leader of House in the Rajya Sabha and a third time MP, who is known as a crisis manager of the government both in and outside Parliament. He hails from Mumbai and like his late father, he has been the party’s resources and logistics for th laast several elections.
. 
BHUPINDER YADAV
Three others to be shifted to the Lok Sabha elections are the two-term MPs: Environment Minister Bhupender Yadav, Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan and Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya.
Yadav may be fielded from Rajasthan which sent him to the Rajya Sabha or from Haryana which included him from the BJP’s national executive and where he was born. He has handled the crucial political assignments on behalf of home minister Amit Shah in Gujarat and Bihar.
Pradhan, the party’s key political manager, has already expressed his desire to contest the Lok Sabha election from Dhenkanal or Sambhalpur in which Deogarh in Odisha was divided after delimitation. He had won Deogarh in the 2009 Lok Sabha elections.
Mandaviya, who was recenltly assigned the crucial post as Minister of State for Healh, is among the BJP’s most prominent patidar leaders from Gujarat and enjoys the trust of Prime Minister Modi as the Leuva Patidar leader, hailing from Bhavnagar in Saurashtra region.
In the 2019 elections, the BJP had fielded its three union ministers from the Rajya Sabha and all three won. They are: Ravi Shankar Prasad from Patna, Smriti Irani from Amethi and Harpal Singh Puri from Amritsar.
Minister of Finance of India
Others contemplated to be fielded in the Lok Sabha polls are: Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman and External Affairs Minister from Tamil Nadu. Both are the Tamil Brahmins.
. 
ASHWINI VAISHNAV
Two other names under consideration are Jyotiraditya Scindia, who won from Gwalior Lok Sabha several times when he was in the Congress, and Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnav either from Gujarat or Odisha.
