Sonia begins talks to name Rajya Sabha poll candidates

New Delhi, March 9 (IANS) Amid the crisis in Madhya Pradesh where the fight for the Upper House seat has turned ugly causing revolt, Congress interim president Sonia Gandhi, here on Monday, initiated the process to finalise the list of Rajya Sabha candidates for the March 23 elections for 55 seats.

Sonia Gandhi met MP Chief Minister Kamal Nath, Maharashtra Minister and state Congress chief Balasaheb Thorat and Leader of Opposition in Haryana Assembly Bhuprinder Singh Hooda. Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot has also met the party chief.

Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel is slated to meet her on Wednesday, a day after Holi.

Many young Congress leaders, including Jyotiraditya Scindia, Jitin Prasada, Randeep Singh Surjewala, Rajiv Satav and Milind Deora, are in the race to get the nomination.

Of the 55 Upper House members retiring, 13 are from the Congress. The party is likely to win two seats each from Rajasthan, MP and Chhattisgarh, and one seat each from Haryana, Gujarat and Maharashtra.

Despite being at logger-heads with allies, the Congress is eyeing one seat each from Bihar and Tamil Nadu and also second seat from Maharashtra. The Congress is said to have initiated talks the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) in Bihar and the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) in Tamil Nadu to cut its loss to 11.

While Girish Devangan is set to get the party nomination from Chhattisgarh, the name of second candidate has not been discussed as yet.

The Congress is also hoping for a seat from West Bengal, but is yet to decide on the candidate. Mamata Banerjee-led Trinamool Congress announced its four candidates on Sunday.