Cong list spurs more dissent with 'outsiders' charge
Jaipur: The Congress list of Rajya Sabha candidates has caused massive resentment in the ranks, especially among the "dissenters" and those left out.
Sources close to the G-23 or Group of 23 "dissenters" in the Congress have raised many questions about the choice of candidates for the Upper House of Parliament. The party has chosen "outsiders" in Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh, the two states where it is in power.
The dissenters have claimed that not a single candidate belonging to either Chhattisgarh or Rajasthan has been selected for the Rajya Sabha ticket.
Meanwhile, Independent MLA from Rajasthan Sanyam Lodha, who is also an adviser to Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot, on Monday said the Congress should reconsider its decision to field candidates to the Rajya Sabha from outside the state.
"In the Rajya Sabha elections, the Congress party decided all three candidates from outside Rajasthan.
It is the right of the party to decide the candidate, but there is a deep disappointment among the people of Rajasthan because no Congress leader and worker of Rajasthan has been nominated as a candidate," Lodha said in a video message.
"I request the Congress party to reconsider and provide an opportunity to any Congress leader or worker from Rajasthan to represent the state in the Rajya Sabha," the former Congress leader said.
Lodha cautioned the Congress' top brass that the party would suffer a "huge blow" in the assembly elections next year if it failed to accommodate leaders from Rajasthan in the Upper House.
Shortly after the Congress announced its 10 candidates on Sunday night, Lodha had tweeted: "The Congress party should explain why no Congress leader/worker from Rajasthan is nominated for the Rajya Sabha elections," with the hashtag 'Congress Sankalp'.
Several other Congress leaders, too, have expressed their discontent with the party's candidatures.
Elections to four Rajya Sabha seats from Rajasthan will be held on June 10 for which the Congress has fielded senior leaders Mukul Wasnik, Pramod Tiwari and Randeep Singh Surjewala while the BJP has named former minister Ghanshyam Tiwari.
The Congress had decided against fielding Lodha in the 2018 assembly elections, following which he contested as an Independent candidate and won.
Rajasthan has 10 Rajya Sabha seats and currently, the BJP has seven and the Congress three. The grand old party's members are former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, party's national general secretary KC Venugopal and Neeraj Dangi. Of these, only Dangi is a resident of Rajasthan.
Elections to the four Rajya Sabha seats will be held on June 10 as the tenure of BJP's Omprakash Mathur, KJ Alphons, Ramkumar Verma and Harshvardhan Singh Dungarpur ends on July 4.
The last day for nominations is May 31. Scrutiny of nomination papers will be held on June 1 as per the schedule. Nominations can be withdrawn till June 3. Voting, if necessary, will be held on June 10.
At present, the Congress has 108 MLAs, the BJP 71, Independent 13, the Rashtriya Loktantrik Party three, the CPI(M) and the Bharatiya Tribal Party have two each in the 200-seat Rajasthan Assembly.
