Union minister Pralhad Joshi stated on Tuesday that Nirmala Sitharaman and S Jaishankar might run in the forthcoming Lok Sabha elections.
Nirmala Sitharaman and S Jaishankar are two of the most articulate ministers in Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s cabinet. They are members of the Rajya Sabha, or Upper House of Parliament.
S Jaishankar is the external affairs minister, while Nirmala Sitharaman is in charge of finance.
They have been MPs for a long time but have not faced public elections.
Joshi indicated that the party intends to make its political debut in the Lok Sabha elections this year.
Joshi, who oversees coal and mines, said it is uncertain whether Nirmala Sitharaman and S Jaishankar will run in Karnataka.
“It is appearing in the media. More or less it is final that they (Nirmala Sitharaman and Jaishankar) will contest the Lok Sabha elections. It has not been decided yet from where they will fight, whether it is in Karnataka or some other state,” Joshi was quoted as saying by news agency PTI.
To a question whether it will be Bengaluru, Joshi said, “How can I answer when nothing has been finalised?”
He, however, later retracted the remark.
“I have only said that anybody can contest, and not specifically (named anyone). It is a national party and our leadership will decide. I have not said it like that,” he told PTI.
While Sitharaman currently represents Karnataka in the Rajya Sabha, S Jaishankar represents Gujarat.
Nirmala Sitharaman joined the BJP in 2008 and served as the party’s national spokeswoman till 2014. She was appointed as a junior minister when Narendra Modi became the country’s Prime Minister. In the same year, she was elected to the Rajya Sabha representing Andhra Pradesh.
Nirmala Sitharaman served as the country’s defence minister from 2017 to 2019.
S. Jaishankar is a professional diplomat. In 2015, he was foreign secretary. In 2019, he joined Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s cabinet. He was also nominated for the Rajya Sabha. He has gained prominence on social media over the years for his ardent advocacy of Indian foreign policy in international forums.
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