Congress’ deputy leader in the Rajya Sabha Anand Sharma and senior leaders A.K. Antony and Oscar Fernandes would be renominated to the Upper House. This was indicated by the party here on Thursday.
Congress’ deputy leader in the Rajya Sabha Anand Sharma and senior leaders A.K. Antony and Oscar Fernandes would be renominated to the Upper House. This was indicated by the party here on Thursday.
While Mr Sharma, the sitting MP from Rajasthan, would be renominated from his home state Himachal Pradesh, Mr Antony and Mr Fernandes would be fielded from their home states, Kerala and Karnataka, sources said.
“We can get three Rajya Sabha seats from Karnataka with the help of the Janata Dal (S),” they said, indicating that the “give-and-take” exercise could depend on the legislative council seat.
The Congress can get two seats from Punjab and among them, one of the seats has to be allotted to a Jat Sikh candidate. Mr Ashwani Kumar and Dr M.S. Gill are retiring. The name of former Union minister Kapil Sibal is doing the rounds in the party circles.
The Congress high command will have to accommodate Mr Jairam Ramesh (Andhra Pradesh). It can field only one candidate from Maharashtra.
“If we have to check Union minister Nitin Gadkari, the high command should field a strong person from Vidarbha,” felt a section of the party.
The Congress chief Sonia Gandhi had earlier denied Rajya Sabha nomination to the former party chief Sitaram Kesri and veterans like S B Chavan and V N Gadgil on account of their growing age but this time the criteria is yet to be known.
Meanwhile, the election for the lone Rajya Sabha seat of Himachal Prdesh falling vacant next month, would be held on March 21,according to an agency report from Shimla. The seat is falling vacant following expiry of term of BJP MP Bimla Kashyap.
The Chief Electoral Officer of Himachal Pradesh said the detailed election programme would be announced soon.
The Congress has a strength of 36 MLAs in the 68-member Assembly. It also has the support of five Independent legislators.
