Number of seats dwindling, number of contenders swelling.
New Delhi: Congress interim president Sonia Gandhi will find it a challenging task to select candidates for Rajya Sabha, with a large number of leaders seeking the seats. That the contenders include both the young leaders and the veterans makes the task tougher. The leaders close to Rahul Gandhi are also hopeful of getting a berth this time. The older generation heavyweights are also sparing no efforts to be accommodated in the Upper House. In addition, it will be another challenging job to ensure regional balance. Of all the 55 seats to be filled by June-July, the Congress will get only five slots. In the month of April, Congress got only one seat from Kerala. The grand old party will be the weakest ever by the year’s end in terms of numbers in Rajya Sabha owing to a series of electoral defeats in states. Somehow, it may manage to retain the leader of opposition post in the House of Elders by having just a couple of seats above the mandatory strength for the same.
Congress heavyweights such as Ambika Soni, P. Chidambaram, Jairam Ramesh, Anand Sharma, Kapil Sibal and Vivek Tankha are retiring. Ghulam Nabi Azad has already retired. So, selection of candidates to fill these seats is going to be a tough task for Sonia Gandhi. With the Congress already passing through a bad phase, any wrong decision by the leadership can add to the problems.
Most of the retiring leaders want to be back to the house. A couple of them are sure to be given the membership back. The hope is high for Vivek Tankha and Jairam Ramesh. Chidambaram is also trying hard to be retained. Others are also working hard to get back to the house so as to avoid fighting the Lok Sabha polls. But the decision will not be easy for Sonia, given the factionalism in the party. So far, Rahul Gandhi has been finalising the list of nominees. His core team member K.C. Venugopal is already in Rajya Sabha from Rajasthan. Other members of Rahul Gandhi’s team such as Ajay Maken, Randeep Singh Surjewala and Jitendra Singh are eying the Rajya Sabha seats. The party general secretaries Avinash Pandey and Mukul Wasnik are also said to be trying to get a berth.
The DMK may give Congress one seat from Tamil Nadu. The RJD has two seats in its quota from Bihar but the Congress will not get any seat from there. Meanwhile, Rahul Gandhi’s meeting with former Union minister Sharad Yadav has also sparked speculation about Congress apparently contemplating to send him to Rajya Sabha. Observers feel that if Congress picks Yadav it will be able to send a message in Bihar. At the same time, however, Congress also wants to placate former Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar by accommodating her in the Upper House. But the question is how Sonia Gandhi will be able to pick all of them, with the limited scope for the Congress in Rajya Sabha.
The grand old party is sure to get three seats from Rajasthan, one from MP, two from Chhattisgarh and one from Haryana. Several leaders are vying for seats from Rajasthan quota. Traditionally, one seat goes to a local leader in Rajasthan. But Rahul’s confidants are eying the remaining two seats. Even Priyanka Gandhi Vadra’s name is also being speculated in some quarters. Two years ago, there was similar speculation about Priyanka Gandhi Vadra in Madhya Pradesh as well.
The going is tough in MP also, where the Congress has announced Kamal Nath as its face for 2023 assembly elections. It means only Nath will decide everything for the MP. Kamal Nath will take a call on whether or not he will hold both the posts of PCC chief and CLP leader. How others will be satisfied remains to be a challenge for the leadership.
There are three contenders for one seat from MP. Senior lawyer Vivek Tankha has to be adjusted. Haryana has one seat. If the Chhattisgarh seat goes to an outsider, then the Haryana slot will be given to a local leader. If Haryana Congress charge is handed over to Bhupinder Singh Hooda, then present party unit chief Selja Kumari may get RS berth.
Recent electoral setbacks in five states have resulted in Congress losing Rajya Sabha seats. The party has lost six seats each in Punjab and Uttarakhand. The Congress will have no members in Rajya Sabha from around 17 states. The party has only 30 MPs now in the Upper House. The number will dip further after July. The party needs to have at least 25 MPs for being able to retain the post of leader of opposition in the Rajya Sabha. If the grand old party fails to improve its tally in states, it will lose this post.