RUSH FOR UPPER BERTH

Elections to the Rajya Sabha in June have added to the headache of Congress president Sonia Gandhi. In 14 states, 53 seats are up for grabs. Seven leaders, including Ambika Soni, P. Chidambaram and Jairam Ramesh, will retire. While Sonia is likely to renominate them, she has few options for other aspirants. The party has little chance to elect candidates in Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, UP, Punjab, Odisha, Bihar, and Uttarakhand, which account for 27 seats. In Chhattisgarh and Rajasthan, it can win most of the six seats, in Karnataka one seat—that of Ramesh—is almost certain. Allies may offer seats in Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra and Jharkhand. At best, Congress can add three more to its 29 members. While two G23 members, Ghulam Nabi Azad and Anand Sharma, hope for good news, another one, Kapil Sibal, got Samajwadi Party’s backing for a seat.