Amit Shah to contest Rajya Sabha elections from Gujarat 
Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) President Amit Shah, and Information and Broadcasting Minister Smriti Irani will contest the Rajya Sabha elections from Gujarat, the party announced on Wednesday. Shah is currently an MLA in Gujarat, while Smriti Irani has been re-nominated to the Rajya Sabha. This is reportedly aimed at strengthening BJP's presence in the Rajya Sabha.
In a late evening development, the BJP stung everyone by making a surprise announcement. The party after its parliamentary board meeting announced that party president, Amit Shah has been nominated to contest the Rajya Sabha elections from Gujarat.This announcement comes at a time when, of the total 11 Rajya Sabha members from the state, the term of three of them - Smriti Irani and Dilipbhai Pandya (both BJP) and Congress' Ahmed Patel - is coming to an end on August 18.The BJP now has also decided to field Smriti Irani from Gujarat for the August 8 elections to the Upper House of Parliament.SHAH-MODI DUO A HIT COMBINATION?52-year-old Shah, is also an MLA from Gujarat's Naranpura constituency. The Shah-Modi duo have been known in unbreakable since their alliance in Gujarat state politics, followed by the subsequent move to Delhi in 2014 after the BJP's landslide victory in the General elections under Prime Minister Modi's leadership.This latest development was unanticipated, and is drawing much curiosity around the possibility of Shah entering the Union government, with his candidature for the Rajya Sabha polls.Also read | Amit Shah's Jaipur visit galvanises BJP's Rajasthan unit