Keralite Tourism minister finds his 'Rajya' in Rajasthan

Rajasthan may not be able to win over Kerala in tourism but the desert state, known for his warm hospitality all set to give Tourism minister to the country, a native of Kerala. Union Minister of State (independent charge) for Tourism, Electronics and IT Alphons Kannanthanam on Monday filed his nomination for Rajya Sabha seat from Rajasthan. The seat had fallen vacant after Venkaiah Naidu was elected to the post of vice president.

Alphonse wore a traditional Rajasthani turban when he reached the state assembly to file his nomination. He was introduced to the state legislators at a meet that was held in the morning prior to the nominations.

Senior members of the state cabinet were present when Alphonse filed his nomination. Chief minister Vasundhara Raje proposed the same. The nomination was filed in four sets and senior ministers and legislators also signed as proposers. The nomination was handed over to returning officer Prithvi Raj who administered oath as candidate to the union minister. Alphons took the oath in the name of God in English.      

Speaking to the media after filing his nomination, Alphonse said addressing the issues of Rajasthan would be his priority and he would enhance the tourism potential of the state.

Monday was the last day for filing the nominations for Rajya Sabha elections. The nominations are scheduled to be scrutinized on November 8 and November 9 is the last day for withdrawal of nomination.

But with Congress not fielding a candidate, Alphonse is sure to reach the upper house from Rajasthan. This will once again take the number of ministers from Rajasthan in the Modi cabinet to six. And the number of ministers reaching Parliament through Rajasthan once again reaches to two. At the same time with the nomination of Alphons, Rajasthan gets another non Rajasthani minister. The other minister who is a RS MP from Rajasthan is Vijay Goel. The other four ministers from Rajasthan are elected parliamentarians namely Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore, Arjun Meghwal, PP Choudhary and CR Choudhary.

Rajasthan has always been a safe route to RS for ministers of the party in power at the centre. Both Congress and BJP have had ministers who were RS MPs from Rajasthan. Some of them are:

• Vijay Kumar Goyal - Minister of Youth Affairs and sports -- is presently a RS MP from Rajasthan.
• Ram Jethmalani - Union Minister of Law Justice and Company Affairs in the Vajpayee Government was RS MP from Rajasthan.
• Jaswant Singh who had joined politics under the tutelage of Bhairon Singh Shekhawat became the Union Minister of External Affairs in the Vajpayee cabinet during his first stint in RS.
• Najma Heptulla, the RS MP from Rajasthan from 2004 - 10 went on to be the Union Minister of Minority Affairs
• Anand Sharma of the Congress was a RS MP from Rajasthan when he held the portfolios of Union Minister for Commerce and Industry and Textiles.
• Santosh Bagrodia the former Union Coal Minister was RS MP from Rajasthan.