Nomination games

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is pointing at what it calls the Congress hypocrisy about its claims of protecting the interests of minorities. The BJP has either nominated or re-nominated two Muslim leaders — Minorities Affairs Minister Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi and party spokesperson M J Akbar — as its Rajya Sabha (RS) candidates from Jharkhand and Madhya Pradesh, respectively. There is no Muslim on the Congress' list of RS candidates. BJP leaders were quick to add that both Akbar and Naqvi had been nominated on “merit”. The BJP also said that its candidates had served the party for decades, while parties such as the Congress, Indian National Lok Dal (INLD) and Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) had fielded lawyers: The RJD has fielded Ram Jethmalani from Bihar, the Congress is backing Vivek Tankha from Madhya Pradesh and the INLD is supporting lawyer R K Anand in Haryana. The BJP is being accused of supporting businessmen. Its legislators are likely to support media baron Subhash Chandra in Haryana and socialite and businesswoman Preeti Mahapatra in Uttar Pradesh. The party has fielded industrialist and former party treasurer Mahesh Poddar in Jharkhand.