New Delhi: Proximity with the Congress high command seems to be the main criterion in the nomination of the party’s Rajya Sabha candidates declared Thursday, with party president Mallikarjun Kharge himself being one of the seven contenders.
All India Professional Congress chairperson and data analytics department head Praveen Chakravarty has been nominated from Tamil Nadu. He is the biggest beneficiary of the party’s alliance with Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam (TVK) of actor-politician Vijay.
Charkavarty had met Vijay before the Tamil Nadu elections to explore the option of a possible tie-up between the two parties but the party high command chose to go with its old ally, the Dravida Munnnetra Kazhagam (DMK).
After the TVK emerged as the single largest party in Tamil Nadu, the Congress was quick to snap its ties with the DMK and extend support to the TVK. Vijay first accommodated two of the five Congress MLAs in his government and then agreed to give a Rajya Sabha seat.
Chakravarty has emerged a leading gainer from the Congress-TVK alliance but the break-up with the DMK has jeopardised the Congress’ bid for Opposition unity in Parliament. The DMK has refused to join the 8 June Opposition meet in New Delhi.
In contrast, the BJP’s Rajya Sabha nominees mostly comprise leaders who have been working for the organisation for a long time—national general secretary Tarun Chugh from Punjab, former Rajasthan BJP president Satish Poonia, former Arunachal BJP president Tai Tagak who has worked for the party since his days in the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) in 1980s, Manipur BJP president Sharda Devi, and any many district-level leaders from Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh.
Polling for 24 Rajya Sabha—four seats each in Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat and Karnataka, three each in Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan, two in Jharkhand and one each in Manipur, Meghalaya, Arunachal Pradesh and Mizoram—will take place 18 June. The results will be out in the evening.
Congress publicity department chairman Pawan Khera is another nominee. While he is best known as one of the party’s principal spokespersons, Khera also spent several years in the Youth Congress and rose through the organisation’s ranks. The Congress hopes to use his aggression against the Modi government in the Rajya Sabha.
Khera becoming a Member of Parliament is also expected to help him in the defamation and criminal conspiracy case lodged by Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma’s wife.
The Congress high command chose to nominate Meenakshi Natarajan from Madhya Pradesh, dashing the hopes of veteran Digvijaya Singh whose term in the Upper House ends this month. Natarajan has been part of Rahul Gandhi’s team since 2008 when he had got her appointed as an AICC secretary. She was recently made AICC in-charge of Telangana.
Rajasthan Congress leader Neeraj Dangi’s renomination to the Rajya Sabha also came as a surprise to many within the party. Neeraj had lost several elections in the past. Neeraj, the son of former Rajasthan minister Dinesh Dangi, pipped many veterans to get the nod.
“Neeraj lost assembly elections in 2003, 2008 and 2018. Yet, he was sent to the Rajya Sabha in 2020 and again now. He is a very resourceful person but only the high command knows what he has done for the party,” a former Congress MLA from Rajasthan told ThePrint.
Neeraj, party sources said, enjoys the confidence of Kharge. The Congress president’s close aide Pranav Jha, an AICC secretary, has been nominated from Jharkhand. Kharge himself is being renominated to the RS from Karnataka.
Professor Chandrachud Singh, a political analyst, explained how the Rajya Sabha nominations reflected the Congress’s focus on organisational survival rather than electoral expansion.
“The Congress has a limited grassroots presence in many states and, therefore, has had to promote trusted loyalists who can help sustain the organisation. They have to survive in the longer run. ” he told ThePrint.
“The party did not fully consolidate the structural advantages it gained in 2024, while the BJP has further strengthened its hegemonic presence. The party faces a difficult road to 2029, and that is possibly why Rahul Gandhi has packed the list with so many loyalists.”
Political analyst Rasheed Kidwai explained why the Congress choice of candidates reflects the party leadership’s preference for trusted organisational figures and loyalists and its disadvantage.
“The party does not have many avenues left to accommodate and reward its loyalists. The BJP has a lot of power, a lot of ground presence and a lot of organisations where leaders can be rewarded. The Congress has limited avenues; the Rajya Sabha is for loyalty,” he told ThePrint.
(Edited by Tony Rai)
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