Congress is set to lose six Rajya Sabha seats but likely to win nine: from Karnataka, Telangana, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Himachal Pradesh, Haryana.
Congress leaders vie for Rajya Sabha berths ahead of next year’s elections, with party veterans and loyalists competing for key positions (Photo: File)
NEW DELHI: With at least six Rajya Sabha berths getting vacated from the Congress next year and the party likely to win at least nine, many of the grand old party's leaders are looking to seize the opportunity including some who have been known for their failures but are said to be in the good books of the Gandhi family. According to party sources, leaders like Sachin Rao, Krishna Allavaru, Meenakshi Natrajan, Bhanwar Jitendra Singh, Pawan Khera, Supriya Shrinate, former Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel, K. Raju and T. S. Singh Deo are in the race for berths in the Upper House, where party veterans such as Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge, Digvijaya Singh, Shakti Singh Gohil, Salman Khurshid and Anand Sharma are also hoping to make a return.
In the biennial election for the Rajya Sabha early next year, the Congress is set to lose six seats but is likely to win nine—three from Karnataka, two from Telangana, and one each from Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Himachal Pradesh and Haryana.
Party sources said that with Kharge's tenure as a Rajya Sabha member ending and his party presidential tenure continuing till October 2027, he is set to return to the Upper House from the Karnataka Assembly as he also holds the post of Leader of Opposition in the Rajya Sabha. Similarly, Digvijaya Singh and Gohil are also hoping to return to the Upper House with support from the party's top brass, as they face stiff competition from new entrants. Sharma, who resigned as chairman of the party's foreign department, is also hoping to make a return, but his successor Khurshid is eyeing the post as well, the sources said.
Besides the senior leaders, Khera the party's chairman of the media and publicity department is looking to get a berth from Rajasthan. The sources indicated that his candidature is likely to be backed by former Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot. Similarly, Shrinate is also eyeing a Rajya Sabha berth as she heads the social media and digital platforms. The sources indicated that leaders like Baghel, Rao, Natrajan, Raju, Allavaru and Bhanwar Jitendra Singh are also in the race for a berth in the Upper House, but much will depend on the party leadership and whether they will be favoured or not.
However, sources also revealed that the party leadership will face a tough choice in finalising the names for the Rajya Sabha berths, as many on the list are said to be loyalists of the Gandhi family, and thus a balancing formula will need to be worked out.
Meanwhile, some party leaders, sources said, are in a fix about how leaders who have failed in the last few years despite being given important tasks can still get the coveted post of a Rajya Sabha berth. The sources said that the system of fixing accountability in the party seems to have been pushed to the back seat and that some people are being rewarded multiple times without their track record in recent years being reviewed. The sources indicated that if Jitendra Singh, currently the in-charge of Assam and known to have failed to deliver on previous occasions, and Allavaru, the Bihar in-charge who failed to deliver in the recently concluded polls, are selected for the Upper House, it will send a clear signal that loyalty is preferred over performance. A similar situation applies to Natrajan, Raju, T. S. Singh Deo and Rao, who have not delivered in the past few years but are close to the leadership—something that may annoy a section of leaders who feel that real ground-level performers are being overlooked in favour of a select group.
