Noted lawyer Ujjwal Nikam, who is among four persons nominated to Rajya Sabha by President Droupadi Murmu, on Sunday said PM Modi called him to inform the news.

“Modi ji speaks excellent Marathi. He begins some of his speeches in Maharashtra in Marathi and then switches to Hindi,” Ujjwal Nikam told reporters.

“When I received his call and the operator connected me to him, the PM said, ‘Ujjwal ji mi Marathit bolu ka Hindi bolu (should I speak in Marathi or Hindi)’,”Ujjwal Nikam said.

“I told him that he has command over both languages. He told me that the President wants to hand over some responsibility to me and if I would be willing to accept it,” he said.

Ujjwal Nikam, who lost the Lok Sabha election last year, said that when he asked the PM about the nature of the responsibility, he was told that it would be a Rajya Sabha membership.

In a notification issued late Saturday night, the Union Home Ministry said the President has nominated former foreign secretary Harsh Vardhan Shringla, Special Public Prosecutor in the 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks case Ujjwal Nikam, Kerala BJP leader C Sadanandan Master and Delhi-based historian Meenakshi Jain to the Rajya Sabha.

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