The news of Finance Minister P Chidambaram getting nominated to Rajya Sabha from Karnataka has taken wings in the corridors of power in Bangalore. The speculation is so ripe that Siddaramaiah-led State Congress Government may nominate P Chidambaram who had opted out of the lok Sabha elections, nominating his son Karti Chidambaram from his constituency Sivaganga in Tamil Nadu.
Four Rajya Sabha members — including former Foreign Minister and senior Congress leader SM Krishna — will be retiring on June 25. A senior Congress leader confirmed to The Pioneer that there were many names for consideration for nomination to the Rajya Sabha and the name of P Chidambaram was also doing rounds. He, however, said Siddaramaiah and the party high command will take a final call on it.
Given the strength of the ruling Congress, they can nominate (elect) only two candidates but the sources confirmed that ruling party was negotiating with HD Kumaraswamy of the JD(S) for support to elect the third candidate.
For the third seat, the party will be left short of 27 seats for which it is planning to seek the support of the JD(S), party sources said. As many as 46 Assembly members are required to elect a Rajya Sabha member. Congress has 122 seats in the 224 house in Karnataka.
According to KPCC sources besides Chidambaram, the Congress is said to have decided to re-nominate SM Krishna and BK Hariprasad. In New Delhi, a senior Congress leader from Karnataka ruled out any such decision but said it will depend on the overall results of the general elections. He said, “The party high command has not decided anything so far on nominating leaders to the Rajya Saba. Many names are doing rounds. But it all depends on high command and the results of the general elections.”
However, JD(S) leader HD Kumaraswamy ruled out any discussion with the Congress leaders on the issue. Kumaraswamy said that Congress must help JD(S) candidate to be nominated to the Rajya Saba as a third candidate instead of a Congress nominee looking at the strength of JD(S) which has 40 MlAs in the Karnataka legislative Assembly.
Recently Siddaramaiah had met Governor HR Bhardwaj to avoid conflict with him during nominations to the legislative Council. Five seats to Council will be vacant by next month and the Congress aims to consolidate its position by getting all the five nominated from the ruling party.