Bengaluru: The Congress is said to be looking at a combination of youngsters and veterans to field in the upcoming Rajya Sabha polls on March 23 with the party expected to win just eight of the total 58 seats going to elections based on the strength of its MLAs in the respective state assemblies.
The Congress’s assured seats are two each in Karnataka and Gujarat and one each in Madhya Prdesh, Bihar and Maharashtra. In Karnataka, chief minister Siddaramaiah is keen on fielding a third candidate, who has to mobilise votes from independents and others as the party is short of 10 votes to get the nominee elected on its own strength.
Sources said Siddaramaiah reportedly told the high command that only local candidates should be fielded this time as it is an election year. Names of party functionaries Janardhan Dwivedi and Sam Pitroda are doing the rounds. The latter is expected to be fielded from Gujarat.
A delegation of Congress MPs, which met AICC general secretary Karnataka incharge K C Venugopal in New Delhi on Thursday, is said to have opposed former legislator Naseer Ahmed’s name being considered. According to them, the party is represented by three persons from Kolar district in the parliament and Ahmed also hails from there.
“When the party has K H Muniyappa (Kolar MP), M Veerappa Moily (Chikkaballapura MP) and Rajeev Gowda (Rajya Sabha MP), whose father was from Kolar, the leaders should be looking at giving representation to others,’’ sources quoting the MPs said.
Congress chief Rahul Gandhi, who is in Singapore, is expected to approve the candidates’ list on Friday or over the weekend; March 12 is the last date for filing of nominations.
All Comments ()+^ Back to Top
Refrain from posting comments that are obscene, defamatory or inflammatory, and do not indulge in personal attacks, name calling or inciting hatred against any community. Help us delete comments that do not follow these guidelines by marking them offensive. Let's work together to keep the conversation civil.
HIDE