Union ministers Hardeep Singh Puri and BL Verma were dropped from list of eight Rajya Sabha candidates from Uttar Pradesh that the ruling BJP announced on Monday.

Puri holds the dual charge of Minister of Petroleum and Natural Gas and Urban and Housing Affairs. BL Verma is is the Minister of State in the Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution.

There has been a cloud over Puri after Leader of Opposition from Congress Rahul Gandhi accused him in Parliament and outside of having links with Jeffrey Epstein — an American financier and a convicted sex offender.

The BJP decided to drop all the 7 members of Rajya Sabha — Hardeep Singh Puri, BL Verma, Arun Singh, Seema Dwivedi, Neeraj Shekhar, Brij Lal and Geeta Shakya — ahead of assembly elections in Uttar Pradesh while the seat of Dinesh Sharma fell vacant after he was made Lieutenant Governor of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands. 

Elections to 12 Rajya Sabha seats across Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand and West Bengal will be held on October 16. 

As per the list released, BJP has decided to field State Minister Dharampal Singh, Radhakant Ojha, Prakash Pal, former MLC Vidyasagar Sonkar, Gopi Krishna Pandey, Ram Pratap Singh Chauhan, former Lok Sabha MP Priyanka Singh Rawat and Jharkhand Governor Santosh Gangwar’s daughter Shruti Gangwar.