Congress leader and spokesperson Pawan Khera on Sunday expressed his disappointment upon being left out of the names announced as Rajya Sabha candidates by the party.
The leader, known for staunchly speaking for the party on various occasions, tweeted in Hindi after Congress released the names of 10 candidates for the June 10 Rajya Sabha polls. "Maybe something was missing in my penance", Khera tweeted.
Although, Khera also acknowledged the Congress party's contribution in his political career, as he wrote, "Be it the spokesperson of the party or the law minister in the Congress government, our identity is made up of Congress. None of us should forget this."
Apart from Khera, several other prominent faces like G-23 leaders Ghulam Nabi Azad and Anand Sharma, who were speculated to be in the list, could not make the cut.
The list of candidates announced includes two leaders -- former Union minister Mukul Wasik (Rajasthan) and Vivek Tankha (Madhya Pradesh) -- who were among the group of 23 leaders who had written to Congress president Sonia Gandhi in 2020 seeking large scale organisational overhaul.
Of the 10 leaders, five are former Union ministers -- Chidambaram, Ramesh, Maken, Shukla and Wasnik. Chidambaram has been fielded from Tamil Nadu, Ramesh from Karnataka, Maken from Haryana and Surjewala from Rajasthan, according to the list released by the party.
The Congress also fielded Pramod Tiwari from Rajasthan, former Union minister Rajeev Shukla and Ranjeet Ranjan from Chhattisgarh and Imran Pratapgarhi from Maharashtra.
Interestingly, Congress has opted for 'outsiders' in Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh, the two states in which the party is in power on its own.
The Congress is likely to get 10 Rajya Sabha seats in the upcoming election cycle. The party is also likely to gain three seats in the Upper House if it manages to get all the three seats that are falling vacant in Rajasthan.
Latest India News
