New Delhi: The Congress leadership has been chastised for leaving out important leaders, including party spokesperson Pawan Khera, when choosing Rajya Sabha candidates.
Mr Khera, who is known for his tenacious defense of the party line in TV debates and media appearances, showed his anger with a Hindi tweet after the Congress announced their selection of ten candidates for the upper house.
“Maybe there is something missing in my penance,” Mr Khera tweeted in Hindi.
Rajeev Shukla and Ranjeet Ranjan of Chhattisgarh, Ajay Maken of Haryana, Jairam Ramesh of Karnataka, Vivek Tankha of Madhya Pradesh, Imran Pratapgarhi of Maharashtra, Randeep Singh Surjewala, Mukul Wasnik, and Pramod Tiwari of Rajasthan, and former Home Minister P Chidambaram of Tamil Nadu are all candidates for the Congress.
The party has been chastised for its Rajasthan candidates, who are all from outside the state.
Sanyam Lodha, a Congress MLA from Rajasthan’s Sirohi, said the party would have to explain why no one from the state was nominated. “The Congress party should explain why no Congress leader or worker from Rajasthan has been nominated as a candidate in the Rajya Sabha elections,” he tweeted.
On social media, the party was chastised for refusing to accommodate veteran politicians Ghulam Nabi Azad and Anand Sharma.
The party’s decision to nominate poet-turned-politician Imran Pratapgarhi was also criticized. “Our 18 years of penance also fell short in front of Imran Bhai,” party leader and prominent actor Nagma tweeted in response to Mr Khera’s tweet.
The party’s decision to nominate poet-turned-politician Imran Pratapgarhi was also criticized. “Our 18 years of penance also fell short in front of Imran Bhai,” party leader and prominent actor Nagma tweeted in response to Mr Khera’s tweet.
Nagma, who is the vice-president of the Congress’ Mumbai chapter, said that when she joined the party in 2003, Sonia Gandhi “personally committed to accommodating” her in the Rajya Sabha. She questioned whether she was “less deserving” because of Mr Pratapgarhi’s choices.
Satish Poonia, the BJP’s Rajasthan unit chief, slammed the Congress’s choice of candidates. “Rajasthan hosted the Congress’ Chintan Shivir. Take a look at another result of this way of thinking. Observe the local candidate quota….who will be ‘vocal’ if there are no ‘locals’? “He sent out a tweet.
On June 10, elections will be held for 57 Rajya Sabha seats across 15 states.
As an independent media platform, we do not take advertisements from governments and corporate houses. It is you, our readers, who have supported us on our journey to do honest and unbiased journalism. Please contribute, so that we can continue to do the same in future.
