Discontent Within Congress Over Rajya Sabha Nominations

On 29 May, Congress released the list of 10 candidates from eight states for the Rajya Sabha polls due on 10 June. Since then, there has been a public display of discontent among the party leaders who have not found a place in the nominations.

Pawan Khera, Nagma, Acharya Pramod Krishnam expressed their displeasure on Twitter. General secretary of the Mahila Congress, Nagma, asked Congress president Sonia Gandhi if she was less deserving than Imran Prapthagiri from Uttar Pradesh, who has been accommodated from Maharashtra.

Milind Deora, too, sent out a cryptic tweet, indicating something amiss within the Congress camp. The party workers from Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh are upset that not a single name from the respective states was chosen for nominations. All the nominations have gone to Gandhi family loyalists.

Randeep Singh Surjewala, who hails from Haryana, has been nominated from Rajasthan. Mukul Wasnik from Maharashtra and Pramod Tiwari from UP, too, have been made candidates from Rajasthan. Sanyam Lodha, Rajasthan MLA, tweeted that Congress leadership must explain why nobody from Rajasthan state leadership has found a place in its list.

The party in Jharkhand has faced another shock, this time from its alliance partner, Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM). The state leaders allege that Jharkhand Chief Minister and JMM leader, Hemant Soren announced nomination from the state unilaterally. As per reports, he had a discussion with the Congress president on the nomination. The party workers, however, are in a state of disbelief. According to them, JMM leader did not adhere to ‘coalition dharma’ and went with his own candidate, senior leader Mahua Maji.

Congress veterans such as Anand Sharma, Ghulam Nabi Azad, Manish Tewari, too, have been left out, while P Chidambaram has secured his name from Tamil Nadu. His son, Karti Chidambaram, is already a Lok Sabha MP on a Congress ticket. A few days back, former Congress Minister Kapil Sibal resigned from the party and secured a Rajya Sabha nomination with the help of Samajwadi Party.