New Delhi: Congress has released the list of candidates it will be sending to the Rajya Sabha. The names are: P Chidambaram, Oscar Fernandes, Jairam Ramesh, Ambika Soni, Vivek Tankha, Kapil Sibal and Chhaya Verma.
According to reports, Sibal could be fielded from Uttar Pradesh. The Samajwadi Party would be giving its extra votes to a Congress nominee in the state.
In Madhya Pradesh, Vivek Tankha, senior advocate of the VYAPAM, was the top contender. Chhaya Verma would be nominated from Chhattisgarh quota.
It is most likely that from Karnataka, the party will nominate Oscar Fernandes and Jairam Ramesh. P Chidambaram will get his Upper House berth from Maharashtra quota.
The party would be renominating Ambika Soni from Punjab. There was a close fight between Sunil Jhakhar, the current MLA in the Punjab Assembly, and Sonia.
There have been 57 retirements to the Rajya Sabha in the recently concluded Budget session. The Congress can stake claim to 7 seats. But with some support from alliance partners it can make the tally go up to 9.
The decision was taken after several rounds of meetings between Congress president Sonia Gandhi, senior party leader Ghulam Nabi Azad and others.
