The Congress party announced its candidates for the Rajya Sabha polls from four states, with several Gandhi loyalists finding inclusion, and dissenting voices left out. G-23 leaders Ghulam Nabi Azad and Anand Sharma, who were speculated to be in the list, could not make the cut. The G23 has weakened over time with senior leader M. Veerappa Moily distancing himself from the group, Jitin Prasada joining the BJP, Sibal quitting the party and Wasnik not attending its meetings in recent times.
The party announced that it was fielding former Union ministers P. Chidambaram, Jairam Ramesh and Ajay Maken, as well as the party's chief spokesperson Randeep Surjewala. The list includes two leaders—former Union minister Mukul Wasik (Rajasthan) and Vivek Tankha (Madhya Pradesh)—who were among the group of 23 leaders who had written to Congress president Sonia Gandhi in 2020 seeking large scale organisational overhaul.
Congress leader Pawan Khera, the party's spokesperson on a national stage, who was expected to get the RS nomination, tweeted cryptically: "Maybe something was missing in my penance."
Congress leader and MLA Sanyam Lodha from Sirohi in Rajasthan told ANI that outsiders were put up for candidature from Rajasthan. "Congress has nominated 3 Rajya Sabha candidates from Rajasthan, but none of them belong to the state. Party workers are disheartened because of this. I request the party to rethink this and nominate any leader from Rajasthan," he said.
Chidambaram has been fielded from Tamil Nadu, Ramesh from Karnataka, Maken from Haryana and Surjewala from Rajasthan, according to the list released by the party.
The Congress also fielded Pramod Tiwari from Rajasthan, former Union minister Rajeev Shukla and Ranjeet Ranjan from Chhattisgarh and Imran Pratapgarhi from Maharashtra.
Of the 10 leaders, five are former Union ministers—Chidambaram, Ramesh, Maken, Shukla and Wasnik. Three belong to Uttar Pradesh—Shukla, Tiwari and Imran Pratapgarhi, who is also the head of the minority cell of the Congress. Interestingly, the Congress has opted for 'outsiders' in Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh, the two states in which the party is in power on its own.
Of the 55 vacancies arising in the Rajya Sabha in the next two months, seven Congress members—Chidambaram (Maharashtra), Ramesh (Karnataka), Ambika Soni (Punjab), Tankha (Madhya Pradesh), Pradeep Tamta (Uttarakhand), Kapil Sibal (Uttar Pradesh) and Chhaya Verma (Chhattisgarh)—will be completing their terms.
The Congress is likely to get 10 Rajya Sabha seats in the upcoming election cycle.
