17 outgoing Congressmen hope for another term

Most of the 17 retiring Congress members from Rajya
Sabha are hoping to be handpicked by president Sonia Gandhi as party nominees next week.

Union ministers Ambika Soni, Jairam Ramesh and Anand Sharma are all set to come back. The Congress’ strength, however, is expected to go down after this election.

It may lose seats in Uttarakhand and Bihar, which would force the party leadership to find safe havens for its loyalists Satish Sharma and RK Dhawan.

Similarly in Karnataka, unless Janata Dal (Secular) backs it, only one of the two general secretaries, Oscar Fernandes and BK Hariprasad, eyeing re-election to RS can make it.

With six seats each, Andhra Pradesh and Maharashtra are two big states. But the number game allows Congress only four seats in Andhra and two in Maharashtra.

The retiring Congress members are: Mohsina Kidwai, EMS Natchiappan, Oscar Fernandes, BK Hariprasad, Radhakant Nayak, Vijay Darda, Ambika Soni, Narendra Budania, Santosh Bagrodia, Satish Sharma, RK Dhawan, Dhiraj Prasad Sahu, Girish Sanghi, JD Selam, Jairam Ramesh, Hanumanth Rao and N Janardhana Reddy.