Goa BJP chief Tendulkar party nominee for RS poll

The BJP has chosen its Goa unit president Vinay Tendulkar as the party candidate for the upcoming Rajya Sabha poll from the coastal state.
The election to the lone Rajya Sabha berth from the state, currently held by Shantaram Naik of the Congress, is scheduled to be held on July 21.
The last date for filing nomination for the election is July 11.
"Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar selected me after holding dialogues with the coalition partners. The CM was given all rights (by the party) to finalise the candidate for the Rajya Sabha poll," Tendulkar told PTI today.
Tendulkar, a former forest minister, said the BJP's allies were taken into confidence before finalising his name.

After the BJP failed to secure majority in the February assembly polls and finished second behind the Congress, Parrikar had managed to stitch a rainbow alliance, comprising the Goa Forward Party (GFP) and the Maharashtravadi Gomantak Party (MGP), each having three MLAs, besides three independent legislators.

He later won the Supreme Court-mandated floor test in the assembly in March.
In the 40-member House, the current strength of which stood 38 following the resignations of a BJP MLA and a Congress MLA, the BJP has 12 members, the Congress 16, the MGP 3, the GFP 3, the NCP one, besides the three independent legislators.

Panaji MLA Siddharth Kuncalienkar (BJP) resigned in May, apparently to vacate the seat for Parrikar who is currently not a member of the House, whereas the Congress' Vishwajit Rane quit after switching over to the BJP. Rane is currently Health Minister in the Parrikar cabinet.
Besides the party legislators, the BJP candidate is expected to get support of the MLAs of the MGP, the GFP and the three independents.
The lone NCP MLA, Churchil Alemao, is yet to spell out his stand.
The Congress is yet to announce its nominee for the poll.