Former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is likely to follow Congress president Rahul Gandhi in getting elected to the parliament from a safe haven in South India. The Tamil Nadu Congress Committee is hopeful and jubilant about the prospects of nominating Manmohan Singh from the Legislative Assembly as a member of Rajya Sabha. Rahul Gandhi, president of the AICC, got elected to the Lok Sabha from Wayanad in Kerala in the recently held General Election.
Manmohan Singh’s present tenure in the Upper House is coming to an end in June 2019. Since the Congress is not in a position to re-nominate him from Assam, from where he was elected to the House in earlier occasions , the party was facing a dilemma of how to ensure the re-election of the former Prime Minister.
With the DMK winning 13 of the 22 bypolls held to the State Assembly, the Opposition benches in Tamil Nadu would have 111 members (DMK’s 101, Congress’ eight, Muslim League and AMMK one each). The DMK would be able to nominate three members to the Upper House in July 2019 when elections are due from Tamil Nadu. The party has agreed to nominate Vaiko, the MDMK leader, who campaigned vigorously against Prime Minister Narendra Modi when the election to Rajta Sabha is held in July 2019.
Along with Vaiko, the name of Manmohan singh is also being heard in both the Congress and the DMK camps. “The talks about nominating Manmohan Singh have been there for quite some time now. It is a matter of privilege for us to have the former Prime Minister reaching the Rajya Sabha representing Tamil Nadu,” said C D Meyyappan,, senior AICC member and former president of Tamil Nadu Youth Congress.
The DMK has made it know that the party would field its candidate from Nanguneri assembly constituency which has fallen vacant following the election of incumbent ember H Vasantha Kumar to the Lok Sabha from the Kanyakumari constituency. “If the Congress decides to field Manmohan Singh from Tamil Nadu as a Rajya Sabha candidate, he would be the first non-Tamil leader who would be representing the State in Parliament. This will boost the image of the Congress-DMK alliance and enthuse the cadre,” said N Kalyanasundaram, veteran scribe and the State’s political chronicler.
He said that the development should be seen in the backdrop of the assembly elections in the State due in 2021. “ If the Tamil Nadu Government falls before 2021 the State would see a snap poll and Manmohan Singh would be the star campaigner for the SPA. It is a foregone conclusion that the DMK-Congress combine is all set to sweep the Assembly election,” he said.
