Congress president Rahul Gandhi is in a piquant situation to find safe seats for family friend Sam Pitroda and AICC veteran general secretary Janardhan Dwivedi to reach Rajya Sabha. Sources here said he had approached Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah to accommodate these leaders to get elected from the state, but it is believed that the Karnataka state unit leaders firmly rejected the proposal and asked for nominating a local leader in the wake of Assembly elections in the state. Rahul has now approached the Gujarat unit of his party to seek Pitroda's nomination.

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Earlier on Tuesday, during a meeting with Rahul in New Delhi, Siddaramaiah had reportedly told him that it would be unwise to send "outsiders" to Rajya Sabha from Karnataka ahead of the crucial Assembly elections.From Gujarat, Congress is entitled to send two MPs. While chances of Pitroda getting a seat from the state are bright, the other might go to Gujarat Congress chief Bharat Sinh Solanki. In Karnataka, Congress can easily elect two MPs, while there will be a fight for the fourth seat between the Congress and the JDS. The BJP is also slated to get one seat.

In 2016, the Congress had won three seats with the help of JDS rebel MLAs. The CM wants to send one minority, one Dalit and one Lingayat to the Upper House of Parliament keeping the Assembly elections in mind.Businessman Rajeev Chandrashekhar, who has won twice as an Independent with the help of all three political parties in 2006 and 2012, is now trying for a BJP ticket. The JDS has decided to field a Mangalore-based industrialist B M Farooq. All Kannada organisations have demanded that only a Kannadiga should be sent to Rajya Sabha and it has made the job of selecting candidates difficult for the Congress and the BJP.