Congress RS pick Punia confident of smooth passage

A day after Congress announced its Rajya Sabha nominee, chairman National Commission for Scheduled Caste PL Punia exuded confidence of his victory.

Insisting t hat t he party high command had mobilised the necessary support needed for his victory in the biennial elections, Punia said: “I need not speak to anybody. The party high command has taken care of the job of mobilising necessary support.”

He was replying to the media query on whether he had spoken to the ruling Samajwadi Party and others for necessary support. Punia said he would file his nomination papers for the Rajya Sabha seat on November 7.

“We have the requisite support. The Rashtriya Lok Dal is with us,” said Punia, whose nomination may have come as a surprise to many in the party.

However, former union minister Beni Prasad Verma, who has been at loggerheads with Punia for years, tried to down play the decision. “It’s not a big deal. The party may have consulted the SP leaders (Mulayam Singh Yadav) before deciding on the Rajya Sabha candidature,” he said while coming out with his own arithmetic to make his point on the need for Samajwadi Party’s support to the Congress candidate.

“The Congress has 28 MLAs. Four of them are considered close to Samajwadi Party. The Congress did not have an assured support from the RLD MLAs. So, the SP’s support is necessary though there may not be any election for the seat now,” he said.

Punia, however, reasserted that he did not have any differences with any leader in the party. “I am an ordinary party worker. I am grateful to Congress president Sonia Gandhi and party vice president Rahul Gandhi for reposing faith in me,” he said.