Congress nominates Kapil Sibal, P Chidambaram for Rajya Sabha elections

On 28 May, the Congress released its list of nominations for the biennial elections to Rajya Sabha. While former finance minister P Chidambaram was named the Congress nominee from Maharashtra, senior party leader Kapil Sibal has been named from Uttar Pradesh.

Jairam Ramesh and Oscar Fernandes have been named from Karnataka. Others nominated in the polls include Congress general secretary Ambika Soni from Punjab, Chaya Verma from Chhattisgarh, Vivek Tankha from Madhya Pradesh and Pradeep Tamta from Uttarakhand.

The decision was taken by party president Sonia Gandhi.

Chidambaram did not contest the 2014 Lok Sabha polls and his son Karti had unsuccessfully fought from his native Sivaganga constituency in Tamil Nadu.

One nomination from Karnataka has been left to the party general secretary and PCC chief and CLP leader to decide. AICC secretary Avinash Pandey is the retiring member from the state. Fernandes, who has been renominated from Karnataka is on the board of Young Indian Pvt Limited which looks after the National Herald.

The entry of Chidambaram and Sibal in Rajya Sabha and the renomination of Ramesh would strengthen the party's attack on the government in the Upper House where the NDA lacks majority.

Ramesh as a former rural development minister had been at the forefront of the attack on the NDA government over Land Ordinance Bill and Prime Minister Narendra Modi over the alleged GSPC scam.

--PTI