BENGALURU: The suspense over whether BJP and/or Congress would field a candidate for the fourth Rajya Sabha seat appeared to end on Sunday with the two national parties officially naming two and one candidate respectively for the election, scheduled for June 10.
On Sunday evening, BJP released a list of only two candidates – Union finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman and, in a surprise move, cine actor Jaggesh – while Congress named only senior functionary and incumbent MP Jairam Ramesh. JD(S) is likely to field Khupendra Reddy, but with nominations to close on Tuesday, there is still time for a surprise. The state Congress leadership is said to be lobbying hard with the high command to field a second candidate.Senior functionaries of all three parties appeared to reach an informal consensus, so that all four candidates are elected unopposed.
