Union Minister for Rural Development and Panchayati Raj Birender Singh and Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu on Tuesday filed their nomination papers for the by-election to the two Rajya Sabha seats from Haryana, at the Vidhan Sabha in Chandigarh.
The Union Ministers, who filed their nominations in the presence of Speaker Kanwarpal Gujjar and Chief Minister Manohar Lal, presented two sets of nomination papers each to the Returning Officer of Haryana Assembly, Sumit Kumar.
Haryana has five seats in the Rajya Sabha, of which only three are represented right now -- by Shadi Lal Batra and Kumari Selja of Congress and Ram Kumar of Indian National Lok Dal (INLD).
While interacting with the media later, Mr. Singh and Mr. Prabhu exuded confidence that they would be elected unanimously to the Rajya Sabha.
In reply to a question, Mr. Prabhu said that it was a matter of pride that he has got an opportunity to file his nomination to the Rajya Sabha from Haryana. Earlier, he had been elected as Member of Parliament from Maharashtra on four occasions. He said Prime Minister Narendra Modi wanted to ensure all-round development of all the States. Toeing the same line, he said, people of Haryana have chosen a new path of development by electing a BJP Government in the State.
Describing Haryana as a prosperous State, Mr Prabhu assured that besides contributing for the development of the country, he and his Cabinet colleague Mr. Singh would jointly strive to take Haryana further ahead on the path of development. Apart from this, they would also ensure that Haryana gets its due share of benefit from various schemes and programmes being implemented by the Central Government.
When Mr. Birender Singh was asked to comment on how he felt on being moved to the Rajya Sabha after becoming a Cabinet Minister, he said that there is nothing new as he was a Member of the Rajya Sabha earlier also.
Asked to comment on a statement in which he had said that Rajya Sabha seats are available for Rs 100 crore in Haryana, Mr. Singh quipped that he has spent only Rs. 100 for the same in the BJP.
