CHANDIGARH: With five Rajya Sabha seats falling vacant, two each of Congress and Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) and one of BJP from Punjab, and elections for them on March 21, hectic lobbying has started in political circles to get into the Upper House.
While SAD is expected to renominate its members Naresh Gujral and Sukhdev Singh Dhinsa, lobbying is on in BJP as it may replace Avinash Rai Khanna in the Upper House. The saffron party never renominates its Rajya Sabha members. Khanna is in the race for the post of Punjab BJP president, along with former Lok Sabha member Navjot Singh Sidhu, state party president Kamal Sharma, state party vice-president Rajinder Mohan Chinna and former state unit president Rajinder Bhandari.
Sources said if BJP wants to project a Sikh face in Rajya Sabha, then the race is between Sidhu and Chinna, both from Amritsar. However, it may be tricky for Sidhu due to his anti-Akali Dal stand and his criticism of the Badals. His wife and Chief Parliamentary Secretary Navjyot Kaur Sidhu has also been very vocal about the Badals. Hence, Akali legislators might vote against him, making BJP lose its lone Rajya Sabha seat from the state.
On other hand, Chinna—considered close to Union Minister of Finance Arun Jaitley—could be a wild card entry. “The party has not called for any names yet. The final decision for nomination will be taken by the party high command,’’ said a BJP leader.
Congress is likely to replace its MPs, M S Gill and former law minister Ashwani Kumar, in the House. Congress leaders in the running for the two seats are former state party presidents Partap Singh Bajwa and S S Dullo, former Lok Sabha member Mohinder K P, former Congress Legislative Party leader and MLA Sunil Jakhar, party’s state vice-president Lal Singh and former AICC member Jagmeet Singh Brar. Bajwa is considered close to Rahul Gandhi as he was handpicked by the party’s vice-president and made the state unit president. When he was removed from the post of state president, he was reportedly promised to be rehabilitated.
Other Congress leaders wanting a Rajya Sabha berth are former Union ministers Manish Tiwari, Pawan Bansal and Kapil Sibal. In Punjab, Bansal and Sibal are considered outsiders, and there is feeling in the state leadership ahead of the Assembly elections that Rajya Sabha seats should be allotted to leaders from the state.
Besides these five seats, two more fall vacant in June; SAD’s Balwinder Singh Bhunder and Congress’ Ambika Soni will vacate their seats, but it is likely that both will be renominated as Soni is considered close to party president Sonia Gandhi and Bhunder’s proximity to the Badals is well known.