As the Rajya Sabha bid an emotional farewell to leader of opposition, Ghulam Nabi Azad, bringing to an end an illustrious term of the veteran leader in the upper house, the focus now shifts on what would be the Congress's next course of action with regard to filling up the post of the LoP.
Azad, who made a teary speech in the Rajya Sabha as the upper house bid him a farewell, recalling experiences from his long career in Parliament and his political stint in Jammu and Kashmir, is unable to get re-elected to the Rajya Sabha from the Union Territory as it does not have a legislative assembly in place at present. It is being speculated if he would get a nomination from Kerala, where three upper house seats fall vacant in April. It is also being discussed whether the Congress might opt to find a replacement for Azad as the LoP.
The name of Mallikarjun Kharge, who was the Congress's leader in the previous Lok Sabha, and who upon his defeat in the parliament elections in 2019 was nominated to the Rajya Sabha, has been doing the rounds as the frontrunner to succeed Azad as the LoP.
Kharge's aggressive stance against the Narendra Modi government in the Lok Sabha as he led an extremely modest number of Congress leaders in the lower house is said to weigh in his favour.
The name of Azad's deputy in the Rajya Sabha, veteran leader Anand Sharma, who boasts of a rich parliamentary experience and has been one of its prominent voices in the upper house, is also in contention.
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However, figuring in the negative list for both Azad and Sharma is that they were in the lead in writing the 'letter of dissent' to Congress President Sonia Gandhi in August 2020, seeking an overhaul of the party organisation and stressing on the need for a full-time, effective and visible leadership. The endeavour was widely viewed in the party as a criticism of the Gandhis, especially the style of functioning of former party chief Rahul Gandhi.
Veteran leader and former union minister P. Chidambaram, the party's lead voice in taking on the Modi government on policy matters, especially those that fall in the economic sphere, is also said to be amongst those being considered to replace Azad.
The names of Jairam Ramesh, who has been the mainstay of the Congress's thinktank, and former Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Digvijaya Singh, who has been unrelenting in his attacks on the BJP-RSS, could also not be ruled out, it is said.