Not in RS renomination, Cong MP meets Gadkari

Congress MP Vijay Darda, who failed to get party renomination for the upcoming Rajya Sabha polls from Maharashtra, on Sunday called on BJP leader Nitin Gadkari at the latter’s residence, raising eyebrows in political circles. In a surprise move, the Congress high command declared P Chidambaram as the party nominee to the upper house from Maharashtra.

Terms of both Darda and his Rajya Sabha colleague from Congress, Avinash Pande, also from Nagpur, end on July 4. According to sources, the closed-door meeting between Darda and the Union Shipping and Transport Minister lasted for about an hour.

When asked what transpired between them, Darda merely said, “It was the decision of the Congress high-command to nominate Chidambaram from Maharashtra”. However, he did no elaborate on his future plans.

Biennial elections to 57 seats in the Upper House of Parliament will be held on June 11. Six of these seats are in Maharashtra with two each held by Congress and NCP, and one each by BJP and Sena.

The retiring RS MPs from the state are Ishwarlal Jain and Praful Patel (NCP), Vijay Darda and Avinash Pande (Congress), Union Minister Piyush Goyal (BJP) and Sanjay Raut (Sena).