New Delhi: Old guard and loyalists were rewarded with Rajya Sabha nominations while rogue elements were given a stern message by the Congress high command ahead of the February 27 polls.
The Congress was in a position to get around 9/56 members elected to the Rajya Sabha from various states including three from Karnataka, two from Telangana, and one each from Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Himachal Pradesh and Maharashtra. However, there were over a dozen senior leaders vying for the nine seats.
According to party insiders, once a decision was taken to send Congress Parliamentary Party chairperson Sonia Gandhi from either Rajasthan or Himachal Pradesh, only eight seats were available for the senior leaders. The decision to move Sonia, a six term Lok Sabha MP, to the Rajya Sabha was taken due to her health condition.
As discussions started to shortlist the other names, the recent loss of three senior leaders in Maharashtra compelled the high command to look for a local face in the western state. The name of Maharashtra Congress working president Chandrakant Handore, who had lost the MLC polls in May 2022 due to cross-voting by party MLAs despite being the first choice (the second choice was Bhai Jagtap who got elected) was finalised for the lone Rajya Sabha seat from the western state.
In May 2022, then party chief Sonia Gandhi had nominated both Chandrakant Handore and Bhai Jagtap for the MLC seats and was later miffed over the former losing the polls. Similarly, lobbying for the sole Rajya Sabha seat from Madhya Pradesh by former state unit chief Kamal Nath, who met with Sonia Gandhi to push his candidature, did not work as the high command chose not to overlook the veteran’s role behind the assembly poll loss and his recent confabulations with top state BJP leaders.
According to party insiders, the high command wanted to nominate an OBC leader from Madhya Pradesh and had shortlisted state unit chief Jitu Patwari and old hand Ashok Singh. Finally, Ashok Singh was chosen.
Though Himachal Pradesh Congress chief Pratibha Singh had personally requested Sonia Gandhi to get elected to the Rajya Sabha from the hill-state, the Hindi-belt state of Rajasthan was considered a better option for the former party chief. Congress Working Committee member Abhishek Manu Singhvi, the party’s legal trouble-shooter and someone who could not have been sidelined, was then finalised for the Himachal Pradesh seat.
For the lone Rajya Sabha seat from Bihar, the party managers finalised the name of state unit chief and former Rajya Sabha member, Akhilesh Prasad Singh as the Congress, which has only 19 MLAs, is entirely dependent on the support of major ally RJD to get its candidate elected to the upper house of Parliament. If anyone other than Akhilesh Singh had been named, the RJD would have probably claimed the Rajya Sabha seat for itself.
Naturally, Singh's equation with the RJD bosses will help the Congress strengthen the INDIA alliance in Bihar for the Lok Sabha polls. In the Congress-ruled southern states of Karnataka and Telangana too the loyalty factor played a key role in the finalisation of the Rajya Sabha nominees.
While All India Congress Committee treasurer Ajay Maken, who belongs to Delhi, was named the first choice from Karnataka, locals Syed Naseer Hussain and GC Chandrasekhar were named second and third choice respectively. In Telangana, former MP Renuka Choudhury, known to be a vocal leader, and Anil Kumar Yadav, both locals, were named for the two Rajya Sabha seats.
