Former Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee’s niece and ex-MP Karuna Shukla appears to be the frontrunner in the race in the ruling BJP here for the lone Rajya Sabha nomination from Chhattisgarh, polls to which is scheduled to be held on March 30, party sources said here on Sunday.
The polls to the Upper House in Chhattisgarh necessitated following expiry of term of the sitting RS member from the state Gopal Byas.
Ms Shukla, currently the state BJP vice-president, reportedly enjoys confidence of the Central party leadership and has reportedly already received the green signal by the latter to get the party ticket from Chhattisgarh.
“She has been assured of RS nomination much before. She had been bracketed among top campaigners of the party in the recently held Assembly elections in Uttar Pradesh. Her chances of getting RS berth has also brightened following Mr Byas’s unwillingness to get re-nominated,” a senior party leader told this newspaper here.
Ms Shukla has just returned to the state after campaigning for the party in UP for the last two months. Sources, however, said at least two senior party leaders from the state — former Chhattisgarh Assembly speaker Prem Prakash Pandey and state BJP president Ram Sevak Paikre — are also vying for the RS ticket.
While Mr Pandey is reportedly pulling strings with his connections in the Central party to get the ticket, the tribal lobby in state BJP is strongly backing Mr Paikre.