Defeated Cong candidates to find no berth in RS

Defeated Cong candidates to find no berth in RS
HARISH GUPTA

NEW DELHI, MARCH 8: Flooded with hundreds of aspirants for 16 Rajya Sabha seats the Congress is expected to get in the biennial polls, party president Sonia Gandhi has indicated that the principle of two-years cooling period for defeated Lok Sabha candidates will continue to be in operation.

Gandhi, who met a large number of aspirants throughout the day on Wednesday in her Parliament House office, also indicated to some of the aspirants that a formal decision would be taken only after trial of strength in Bihar on March 10.

A win for Rashtriya Janata Dal chief Laloo Prasad Yadav in Bihar will strengthen Gandhi's authority within the party in the selection of candidates. But a loss may force her to drop her loyalists like Arjun Singh, K Natwar Singh, M L Fotedar, R D Pradhan and Madhavsinh Solanki, R P Goenka, Lalit Suri and the like.

These loyalists are against the Lok Sabha losers gaining entry into the Rajya Sabha. Since none of these loyalists contested on one ground or the other, they want to eliminate the defeated ones. It is a different matter that even the defeated ones are being brought through the backdoor. Govind Rao Adik was made PCC chief and an MLC though he had miserably performed in the Lok Sabha polls. Pratap Rao Bhosale, whose son lost in the Assembly polls, may be brought to the Rajya Sabha as part of the deal.

But as one powerful dissident Congress Working Committee (CWC) member put it: "We do not have a parliamentary board. There is no democracy in the selection process of candidates. The way high command picked up three candidates for the RS from Delhi is still a mystery. We will see to it that the rules are followed."

Some leaders also argue that political utility for the party and merit be the criteria for selection of candidates.

Of the 58 seats that are going to polls on March 29, the Congress is expected to win 16, the Bharatiya Janata Party 15 and a massive 27 seats to small and regional parties.

The Congress' worst Waterloo is in Maharashtra where it is keen to bring in R D Pradhan who lost in 1998 due to cross voting. The Congress is 10 votes short for winning two seats. Vilasrao Deshmukh, Maharashtra Chief Minister, has told Gandhi that only one candidate be nominated if she is keen to get Pradhan as money bags can lure the surplus MLAs.

Even Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) chief Sharad Pawar does not want to take any chances and has fielded Praful Patel with a rider that all 58 NCP MLAs should give their first preference votes to him. There are many in the Congress who argue that `merit and utility' should be the criteria rather than so-called personal loyalties. Therefore, the party should pick up Murli Deora who can deliver across the continents. He is understood to have conveyed that if he is nominated, he will ensure the victory of both the Congress nominees.

In Madhya Pradesh, the party is set to win four of the six seats. Left to Chief Minister Digvijay Singh, he would like Maharani Devendra Kumari, a woman Rajput, in the RS. If she is picked up, Arjun Singh may suffer a setback as two Rajputs cannot make it. In the event of Arjun Singh winning the race, Shahid Mussrat, chief of the state Mahila Congress, may get a berth.

In Karnataka, the Congress is set to win three out of four seats. H Hanumanthappa has been promised a ticket by the high command while economist Jairam Ramesh is banking on the Karantaka Chief Minister S M Krishna. If Arjun Sen Gupta is picked up by the party high command from West bengal, Jairam may miss the bus. In the event of Somen Mitra getting the RS berth, Jairam has a chance to make it to the Upper House.

In Gujarat, Madhavsinh Solanki and Rajubhai Parmar are tied.

Another State which is causing concern to the Congress is Andhra Pradesh where the party will only win two seats. Vijaya Bhaskar Reddy, a defeated Lok Sabha MP, is seeking the ticket as a reward for expelling Matang Singh while P Shiv Shanker, G Venkatswamy, T Subiram Reddy are also contending.

The situation is precarious for the party in Uttar Pradesh and Bihar where it cannot win a single seat on its own. Sitaram Kesri is seeking renomination hoping that Laloo will back him again.