Congress general secretaries met party president Sonia Gandhi individually on Saturday to brief her on prospective candidates from their respective States for the forthcoming Rajya Sabha polls. At the time of writing, there was no clarity on the names, with party sources saying an announcement is expected by Sunday, with the last date of nomination being January 28. Ms. Gandhi’s political secretary, Ahmed Patel, was present at the meetings, too.
In place of the 18 Congress members of the Upper House due to retire in April this year, the party hopes to win at least 15 – three from Andhra Pradesh, two each from Assam and Maharashtra, one each from Chhattisgarh, Gujarat, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Manipur and Meghalaya. It is also now sure of winning one seat from West Bengal, as the CPI(M) has promised, after getting one of its own candidates through, to give its additional votes to the Congress to help the latter to get its nominee through. It is also making a push to win a seat in Jharkhand where it will need the support of the JMM and the RJD; in Odisha, it needs three votes to win one seat.
One reason for the delay is that the party is finding it hard to choose the three candidates from Andhra Pradesh, given the choice will have an impact on the already turbulent political situation in the State.
