BJP retains Hardeep Puri, Arun Singh, Neeraj Shekhar in RS

New Delhi, Oct 26 : The BJP has named 8 out of 10 candidates for the upcoming Rajya Sabha polls in November from Uttar Pradesh and one from Uttarakhand.
Predictably Hardeep Puri, Arun Singh and Neeraj Shekhar been retained from UP.
Union Minister of Urban Development (Independent Charge) Hardeep Singh Puri was almost certain to get renominated. Following Manohar Parrikar’s resignation, who quit as the Defence Minister after becoming the Goa Chief Minister, Puri was elected unopposed in a bypoll to a Rajya Sabha seat from Uttar Pradesh in 2018. His term comes to an end on November 25.
Arun Singh too gets renominated as was being speculated. The BJP leader, who was a General Secretary in Team Amit Shah, has been retained in the new team.
Another renomination is of Neeraj Shekhar. Shekhar, son of former Prime Minister Chandra Shekhar, quit his Rajya Sabha seat and left the Samajwadi Party (SP) to join the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in July last year.
Others named include Haridwar Dubey, Brijlal, Geeta Shakya, BL Verma and Seema Trivedi. They all are being fielded for RS polls from Uttar Pradesh while Naresh Bansal will fight for the lone RS seat from Uttarakhand.