Classical dancer Sonal Mansingh (left) and sculptor Raghunath Mohapatra were among the four nominated to the R... Read More

NEW DELHI: Days before Parliament meets for the monsoon session, BJP added to its strength in Rajya Sabha with four new “nominated members” — former BJP MP and Dalit leader Ram Shakal , pro-RSS academic and columnist Rakesh Sinha and artistes Raghunath Mohapatra and Sonal Mansingh .

Mohapatra is a well-known sculptor and with BJP hoping to make gains in Odisha, his choice meets a political plan too. Mansingh is a veteran classical dancer in the Bharatanatyam and Odissi styles.

The addition raises BJP numbers to 69, increasing its lead over Congress that has 50 MPs in the Upper House. BJP and its allies are still well short of a majority in the House which has currently 244 MPs with one vacancy but the numbers are closer if it manages to rope in parties like AIADMK, BJD and Independents on particular issues or bills.

A former three-time BJP Lok Sabha MP from Roberstganj in Uttar Pradesh, Shakal is a Dalit leader and his nomination underlines the party’s strong bid to woo the scheduled castes with BSP and SP coming together in the state.

Sinha has regularly defended BJP and the RSS in the media and has researched in establishing that the RSS did participate in the freedom struggle as opposed to claims that it chose to keep out of the movement. All four were nominated by President Ram Nath Kovind on the advice of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Shakal is seen as a farmer leader championing the cause of Dalits and migrant labourers, Sinha is founder and honorary director of the Delhi-based think-tank India Policy Foundation. A professor at the Motilal Nehu College of the Delhi University, he is member of the Indian Council of Social Science Research (ICSSR).

Mohapatra is an internationally renowned authority on stone carving who has contributed to the preservation of traditional sculpture and ancient monuments. He has worked on beautification of the Jagannath Temple in Puri. His famous works also include a statue of the Sun God carved in grey sandstone, in the Central Hall of Parliament and the Wooden Buddha at the Buddha temple in Paris.

Mansingh is among India’s foremost exponents of Indian classical dance for over six decades. She founded the Centre for Indian Classical Dances in Delhi in 1977.

