The Congress is getting ready to release its Rajya Sabha candidate list. And, according to top sources from the party, its former president Sonia Gandhi will be fielded from Rajasthan. They added that there were initially discussions on the 77-year-old being made a candidate from Himachal Pradesh, but eventually, the party settled on the desert state.
This has led to questions about the fate of the Raebareli Lok Sabha seat that Sonia Gandhi holds. Could Priyanka Gandhi Vadra be fielded from here in the upcoming polls? As per sources, after the Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) recently left the INDIA bloc, Uttar Pradesh’s primary opposition outfit, the Samajwadi Party, is willing to let ally Congress contest from 16-18 of the state’s 80 seats.
The grand old party has decided to fight from both Raebareli and Amethi in UP — once seen as its strongholds.
Observers said Sonia Gandhi contesting for a Rajya Sabha seat could be a way of clearing the path for Priyanka to make her Lok Sabha election debut from Raebareli.
However, sources said Sonia has decided to try for the Rajya Sabha because of her ill health, as she won’t be able to campaign much for the Lok Sabha elections.
They added that Abhishek Manu Singhvi, the party’s Rajya Sabha member from West Bengal, will be its candidate for the upper house from a southern state this time. Party treasurer Ajay Maken may also be on the Rajya Sabha list. According to sources, Akhilesh Prasad Singh could be the Congress’s Rajya Sabha candidate from Bihar.
Insiders said the Congress was waiting for the floor test in Bihar to be over to release its candidate list, but with former Maharashtra chief minister Ashok Chavan leaving the party, it is now in a huddle to strategise for its Rajya Sabha seat in the state. Senior leaders including Sonia Gandhi, KC Venugopal, Mukul Wasnik, and Salman Khurshid held a meeting with Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge on the matter.
The Congress has 44 MLAs in Maharashtra, but Chavan is an influential leader and at least 10-12 legislators are very close to him, which could spell trouble for the party. After former union minister of state Milind Deora and erstwhile Maharashtra minister Baba Siddique leaving the party this year, Chavan quitting has dealt a bruising blow to the Congress’s Rajya Sabha poll prospects in the state.
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