SP names Jaya Bachchan, Ramji Lal Suman, Alok Ranjan for RS seats

Lucknow: Outgoing MP Jaya Bachchan, former chief secretary Alok Ranjan and former MP Ramji Lal Suman, on Tuesday, have been named as Samajwadi Party candidates for the Rajya Sabha from Uttar Pradesh.

Samajwadi Party leader Rajendra Chaudhary said on Tuesday, "We have fielded Jaya Bachchan, Ramji Lal Suman and Alok Ranjan."

“Our party is very inclusive and we have taken forward our pitch for the PDA by giving tickets to women, a Dalit and a dominant caste member. This vindicates our stand that we are including all communities in our PDA pitch - with women and dominant castes being a part of it,” said the senior SP leader.

Party leaders said that the decision to pick the three from very different backgrounds was taken with an eye on the Lok Sabha polls.

Ramji Lal Suman, a four-time MP from Firozabad and a former Union minister, has been picked with an eye on the Dalit vote bank in Uttar Pradesh. Dalits are a part of PDA (Pichda, Dalit and Alpsankhyak) pitch by the SP ahead of the Lok Sabha polls.

Meanwhile, Jaya Bachchan will start her fifth term in the Upper House if she is elected. The move to nominate her has been taken with an eye on women voters in the state.

Alok Ranjan, a retired IAS officer, is an analyst for the party and has been given a ticket as SP Chief Akhilesh Yadav has maintained that the PDA also includes “agde” (dominant castes), and “aadhi aabadi” (women).

With the Rashtriya Lok Dal switching over to the National Democratic Alliance (NDA), it may be tricky for the SP to get all three elected to the Upper House. But party leaders on Tuesday said that “things are in place and they are confident that all three candidates will emerge victorious”.

The SP currently has two members in the Rajya Sabha. If the three candidates emerge victorious, its strength will increase to five in the Upper House.