Rajya Sabha polls: Nominate Priyanka Gandhi from MP, say Congress leaders

Bhopal: Amid infighting in the Madhya Pradesh Congress and allegations of poaching by the BJP, some Congress leaders have demanded that Priyanka Gandhi Vadra be nominated from the state for the upcoming Rajya Sabha polls.

Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Kamal Nath has left for New Delhi on Sunday night to meet top Congress leaders to discuss the current political situation in the state and nominations for the Rajya Sabha polls scheduled on March 26.

“Priyanka Gandhi should be nominated by Congress for the Rajya Sabha seat from Madhya Pradesh. Once she arrives, many things would settle down in Madhya Pradesh,” state Public Works Department Minister Sajjan Singh Verma told PTI.

Former Union minister Arun Yadav also demanded that Priyanka Gandhi, who is the Congress general secretary, be nominated for the Upper House of Parliament from Madhya Pradesh. During his Delhi visit, Kamal Nath will be meeting Congress president Sonia Gandhi and senior party leader Jyotiraditya Scindia, sources in the party said.

The Congress-led government in Madhya Pradesh is facing “lot of crisis” these days as two of its MLAs are still ‘missing, they said. The Congress recently alleged that the BJP



“abducted” some MLAs to bring down the Kamal Nath government.

However, the BJP denied the allegation, saying it has nothing to do with the development, which it claimed was the result of “infighting” among Congress leaders ahead of the Rajya Sabha elections.

The Rajya Sabha terms of Congress veteran Digvijaya Singh, and BJP leaders Prabhat Jha and Satyanarayan Jatiya will end on April 9. As per the arithmetic in the 230-member Madhya Pradesh Assembly, the two parties are sure to win one Rajya Sabha seat each and a tussle is likely for the third seat.

While the Congress has 114 MLAs, the opposition BJP has 107 legislators. Four Independent MLAs, two lawmakers of the Bahujan Samaj Party and one legislator of the Samajwadi Party are supporting the Congress-led state government. Two seats are vacant following the demise of a Congress and a BJP legislator. Members of a state’s Legislative Assembly vote in the Rajya Sabha elections.

Ten Congress MLAs from Madhya Pradesh went ‘missing’ last week. The party pointed fingers at the BJP, which denied any role in it. Since then, eight of the ‘missing’ Congress MLAs have returned and expressed their support to the ruling party in the state.