It is always good to send people native to a state to Rajya Sabha. It is far better than the parachute candidates who get the Rajya Sabha candidature simply because their respective political parties want them to be in active politics and fulfill their (parties) broader political goals.  This way, BJP's decision to field Anil Baluni as its candidate for the upcoming elections to one Rajya Sabha seat in Uttarakhand, is a good sign. The election will be held on March 23 and March 12 is the last day for filing nominations. If all goes well, then he will be elected unopposed. And there is no reason to belive that he will not be representing Uttarakhand in Rajya Sabha. At present, the two other Rajya Sabha seats in Uttarakhand are represented by Pradeep Tamta and Raj Babbar, of Indian National Congress.

As far as we know, 45 years old Baluni is BJP National Spokesperson, heads BJP's National Media Cell  and originally belongs from Pauri Garhwal district of Uttarakhand. He had his college from Delhi University. He is a commerce graduate and holds a diploma in journalism too.

From online reports out there, we get to know that Anil Baluni has been active with BJP in Uttarakhand since 1993. His association with BJP began with ABVP when he was a Delhi University student. During this time in DU his association with RSS and Sundar Singh Bhandari, a prominent Sangh leader began. Later when Sundar Singh Bhandari was appointed as Governor of Bihar in 1998-99 and the governor of Gujarat in 1999-2003, Mr. Baluni accompanied him as his OSD.

In addition, Mr. Baluni had a short stint as deputy chairman of Uttarakhand state Forest and Environment Committee as well.

If we compare Mr. Baluni with Rajya Sabha members from Uttarakhand in the past then he seems a good candidate for reasons already mentioned in the beginning.

Could we have a better person to represent us in Rajya Sabha?

The question doesn't seem necessary right now. For now, we must be content with someone who emotionally belongs to Uttarakhand. Only time will tell how good Mr. Baluni performs in Rajya Sabha. He must not only raise real problems faced by Uttarakhand people, he must also ensure that his voice is adequately heard by his party.

To conclude, Anil Baluni may not be the perfect person to represent Uttarakhand in Rajya Sabha, but that is acceptable. Ideally, we may be sending some real scholar with life long research into the real problems faced by Uttarakhand people. But I don't think we as people are yet ready for that mindset change.    

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