Mary Kom, Navjot Singh Sidhu, Subramanian Swamy Among 6 Nominated To Rajya Sabha

BJP leaders Subramanian Swamy and Navjot Singh Sidhu and boxer Mary Kom were nominated by the Narendra Modi government to the Rajya Sabha on Friday.

The list also includes Narendra Jadhav, member of erstwhile National Advisory Council (NAC) headed by Congress President Sonia Gandhi.

Malayalam actor Suresh Gopi and journalist Swapan Dasgupta were also nominated as the new Rajya Sabha members.

President Pranab Mukherjee nominated the six personalities from different fields to the House of Elders following a recommendation of the Narendra Modi government, a Home Ministry spokesperson said.

He said a formal notification regarding their nomination to the Upper House would be issued shortly.

The President recommends the names of the nominated members - drawn from fields such as literature, science, sports, art and social service - on the advice of the government.

Besides the NAC membership, Mr Jadhav has had held several positions. He was a member of Planning Commission from 2009 to 2014 and Vice Chancellor of the University of Pune.

He is a prolific writer in three languages - Marathi, English and Hindi - and credited with writing and editing more than 30 books.

Mr Swamy, a Harvard-educated economist, was a former Union Minister for Commerce and Law. He was also a former member of the Planning Commission.

Mr Sidhu, cricketer-turned-parliamentarian is three-time Lok Sabha member of BJP from Amritsar, was given a Rajya Sabha seat apparently to stop him from joining Aaam Aadmi Party, which was reportedly planning to project him as chief ministerial candidate for Punjab Assembly polls in 2017.

The 52-year-old former cricketer had made way for Finance Minister Arun Jaitley to contest from Amritsar in 2014 Lok Sabha polls. However, Mr Jaitley had lost the election.

Swapan Dasgupta is a senior journalist and has held different editorial posts at The Statesman, The Times of India and India Today besides others.

Malayalam actor Suresh Gopi has been a known supporter of of the BJP in the last few years.

He is known as an 'action hero' in Malayalam cinema and has mostly played roles as honest and committed police officers in several movies.

33-year-old Mary Kom, who hails from Manipur, is a five-time world amateur boxing champion and the only woman boxer to have won a medal in each one of the six world championships.

She was picked to ensure representation from Northeastern states.