Rumblings in Congress over Rajya Sabha candidates

Voices of discontent have come out in the open over the Congress' choice of candidates for Rajya Sabha elections with some aspirants and leaders questioning the decision as the leadership picked Gandhi loyalists and outsiders from seven states where it can win ten seats.

This was the first occasion for the party to implement its decision to field 50 per cent candidates below the age of 50 years taken at the three-day Udaipur Chintan Shivir which ended on May 15.

There has been discontent in the Karnataka Congress also over the renomination of Jairam Ramesh, party's Rajya Sabha Chief Whip from the state as it nipped the claims of at least three state leaders.

There were also questions on the dominance of upper caste candidates in the list with some asking about the number of women, OBCs, SC, ST and minority communities in the list.

Jitendra Baghel, Congress co-incharge in Gujarat, tweeted, "would you tell us how many of these candidates are from OBC/SC/ST?"

Also read | RS polls: Cong fields second candidate to checkmate JD(S)

The first to hit the block with a veiled criticism was Pawan Khera, who was eyeing one of the three seats from his home state Rajasthan but the leadership chose three "outsiders" -- Mukul Wasnik, Randeep Surjewala and Pramod Tiwari. "Maybe there was something wrong with my penance," Khera tweeted last night.

But on Monday morning, Khera asserted that the Congress has given him his identity. "I am not only in agreement with this view of mine but also stand by it," he said, tagging one of his tweets a few days ago in which he had said Congress leaders must not forget that their identity was because of the party.

He also tweeted a congratulatory message to all the candidates even as he received support from some other leaders on the issue of his omission. When a Twitter user pointed it to him, Khera shot back, "the family I stand with lives for the country and dies for it. Those with Sangh Parivar can't understand this feeling."

Actress-turned-politician Nagma, a Mahila Congress General Secretary, also expressed her discomfort in fielding Imran Pratapgarhi, who hails from UP, from Maharashtra. "Sonia-ji, our Congress president, had personally committed to accommodating me in RS in 2003/04 when I joined Congress on her request; we weren’t in power then. Since then it’s been 18 years, they didn’t find an opportunity. Mr Imran is accommodated in RS from Maharashtra, I ask am I less deserving," she tweeted.

Responding to Nagma, Congress leader Acharya Pramod Krishnam said in a tweet that the penance of Salman Khurshid, Tariq Anwar and Ghulam Nabi Azad was of over 40 years, but they too were "martyred". "Suppression of talent is a 'suicidal step' for the party," he added.

The issue of not fielding a local from Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh, the only two-party ruled states, has also been raised. Independent MLA from Sirohi in Rajasthan, Sanyam Lodha has questioned the decision to field three "outsiders", saying the party will have to explain why no one was nominated from Rajasthan.

"The Congress party should tell what is the reason for not making any Congress leader/worker from Rajasthan, a candidate in the Rajya Sabha elections?" he tweeted.