Mary Kom and Navjot Singh Sidhu to be nominated for Rajya Sabha

Mary Kom was also conferred with honorary Doctor of Letters degree last month

The Narendra Modi government has decided to nominate Malayalam actor Suresh Gopi, Olympic medallist Mary Kom and cricketer-turned-politician Navjot Singh Siddhu to the Rajya Sabha, informed sources said.

Former union minister Subramanian Swamy, senior journalist Swapan Dasgupta and economist Narendra Jadhav will also be nominated under the category of 12 eminent personalities from the fields of art, literature, sports, science and social service the president nominates to parliament's upper house on the government's recommendation.

However, there are only seven vacancies under this category at the moment with five sitting members Mani Shankar Aiyer, Javed Akhtar, B. Jayashree, Mrinal Miri and Bhalchandra Mungekar retiring on March 21 while two others - Ashok Ganguly and H.K. Dua - finished their terms later.