Ravneet Bittu out of BJP’s 1st Rajya Sabha list; Tarun Chugh fielded from MP

Chandigarh: The BJP on Thursday nominated senior Punjab functionary and national general secretary Tarun Chugh to the Rajya Sabha from Madhya Pradesh but omitted Union minister Ravneet Singh Bittu from its first list of candidates for the 2026 biennial elections.The move is seen as a step towards Bittu's re-entry into Punjab politics. His current Rajya Sabha term expires on June 21. Bittu recently said after 17 years as an MP, he wishes to exit national politics to contest the 2027 Punjab assembly elections. While Bittu has maintained that any decision regarding an assembly ticket rests with the party high command, he may contest from a constituency in Ludhiana, his former Lok Sabha stronghold from where he served two terms (2014-19 and 2019-24). He had also been a Lok Sabha MP from Anandpur Sahib from 2009-14. Speaking at an event where Kewal Singh Dhillon took charge as Punjab BJP president on June 3, Bittu pledged to work as a grassroots soldier for Prime Minister Narendra Modi, focusing on voter outreach across Punjab ahead of the 2027 polls. Reacting to Bittu's desire to return to state politics, Punjab chief minister Bhagwant Mann had quipped that the Union minister would soon find himself without both his ministerial berth and his Rajya Sabha seat. The decision to field Chugh, along with Rajneesh Agrawal from MP, is seen as a calculated balancing exercise in Punjab. Following the recent appointment of Dhillon, a Jat Sikh leader, as the state unit chief, the nomination of a Hindu face like Chugh addresses the party's need for social and communal equilibrium in the region. Coming from a family associated with the RSS for three generations, Chugh began his public life with the ABVP in 1987 and became a BJP booth in-charge in 1989. His organisational journey within the party saw him steadily rise through the ranks. He was appointed president of the district BJP Yuva Morcha unit in 1993 and later served as Punjab BJP Yuva Morcha president in 1997. He went on to hold several key positions, including district BJP vice-president in 2003, Punjab BJP secretary in 2008, and state general secretary in 2012. His rise continued at the national level when he was appointed BJP national secretary in 2014 and was elevated to the post of BJP national general secretary in 2020. In Rajasthan, where three seats are falling vacant, the terms of Bittu, BJP's Rajendra Gehlot, and Congress's Neeraj Dangi end on June 21. Currently, the Rajya Sabha contingent from Rajasthan is evenly split between the BJP and Congress with five members each.MSID:: 131509039 413 |