Congress may nominate Sonia Gandhi to RS from Karnataka
BENGALURU: With the Congress pinning its hopes on South India to win more seats in the 2024 Lok Sabha, in the wake of the party clinching Telangana and being in power in Karnataka, there was a buzz that senior leader Sonia Gandhi would be nominated as a Rajya Sabha member from Karnataka.
The idea is to boost the morale of the party’s rank and file in two Congress-ruled states, besides neighbouring Andhra Pradesh, to re-establish the dominance the party had enjoyed in these states during the nineties, observed political pundits. It is also to bolster the Congress party’s influence in the South, as the ruling DMK in Tamil Nadu is part of the I.N.D.I.A bloc.
It is also important for the grand old party to maintain the tempo of the party’s back-to-back victories in Karnataka and Telangana ahead of the Lok Sabha elections, especially as the BJP is once again banking on the image of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Leaders from the state, including AICC president Mallikarjuna Kharge, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and DyCM D K Shivakumar are eager to put forth the proposal before Sonia, according to sources. “She may not contest the Lok Sabha polls from Rae Bareli, and her daughter Priyanka Gandhi is likely to take up the seat. Sonia Gandhi and the party leadership will take a call at the appropriate time,” maintained a minister in the Siddaramaiah cabinet.
On April 2, 2024, three Congress RS members from Karnataka -- Dr L Hanumanthaiah, Syed Naseer Hussain and G C Chandrashekar -- are retiring and the party leadership will take a call whether to renominate them or not. With 136 MLAs, the Congress can retain all the three seats.
“If Sonia Gandhi accepts the proposal to be nominated from Karnataka, no one will refuse to sacrifice his seat, and we still have some time to go about it. As of now we have not proposed this to Sonia Gandhi,” clarified a senior KPCC leader.