Congress releases list of candidates
DIGVIJAYA SINGH FROM MP, KC VENUGOPAL FROM RAJASTHAN, KTS TULSI FROM C‘GARH AND DEEPENDER HOODA FROM HARYANA ARE CONGRESS’ CANDIDATES FOR RS ELECTIONS
NEW DELHI: The Congress on Thursday named party general secretary in-charge of organisation KC Venugopal, former Madhya Pradesh chief minister (CM) Digvijaya Singh, senior Supreme Court advocate KTS Tulsi and former Lok Sabha member Deepender Singh Hooda as its candidates for the March 26 Rajya Sabha (RS) elections.
While Singh (73) has been re-nominated from Madhya Pradesh, Venugopal (57) will contest from Rajasthan, Tulsi (72) is seeking re-election to the Upper House from Chhattisgarh and Hooda is the party’s candidate from Haryana. From Rajasthan, the Congress named state general secretary and Dalit leader Neeraj Dangi (48), considered close to CM Ashok Gehlot, as its second candidate.
Former Youth Congress president and party’s Gujarat in-charge Rajiv Satav (45) has been fielded from Maharashtra.
In Chhattisgarh, the Congress did not re-nominate veteran leader Motilal Vora (92) whose term expires next month, and instead named state Mahila Congress chief Phulo Devi Netam (45) as its second candidate.
The party’s Bihar and Delhi in-charge, Shaktisinh Gohil (59), and former Gujarat Congress chief Bharatsinh Solanki (66) are the two candidates from the home state of PM Narendra Modi and home minister Amit Shah.
In Madhya Pradesh, the party named Phool Singh Baraiya as its second candidate. Baraiya (58), who hails from the Gwaliorchambal belt, had merged his Bahujan Sanghharshh Dal with the Congress ahead of the 2018 assembly polls.
While spokesperson Shahzada Anwar (46) has been named from Jharkhand, despite CM Hemant Soren’s reservations, Kennedy Cornelius Khyriem (50) is the Congress candidate from Meghalaya.
The nominations have a clear stamp of approval from former Congress president Rahul Gandhi even though he distanced himself from the selection process. Gandhi told reporters in the Parliament House Complex on Thursday that since he is not the Congress president, he is not the deciding authority on ticket distribution.