Anand Sharma to be renominated to Rajya Sabha from Rajasthan

Commerce and Industry Minister Anand Sharma, whose term as a Rajya Sabha member from Himachal Pradesh ended recently, will return to the Upper House on a nomination from Rajasthan. But, Sharma’s nomination process has not been as smooth as those of other ministers like Jairam Ramesh or Ambika Soni.

The Congress leadership first tried to accommodate Sharma from Maharashtra. But stiff resistance from its Maharashtra unit forced the Congress to look for some other place for the minister. The Haryana unit also resisted Sharma’s move and he was finally accommodated by Rajasthan.

Sharma was earlier nominated to Rajya Sabha from Himachal Pradesh, his native state. But, as his term came to an end in April, he had no chance of getting a renomination from there because the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is now in power in the state and the lone Rajya Sabha seat from the state is always occupied by the ruling party.

The Congress top brass was, however, clear that Sharma would continue as a minister and a renomination will be given. While a section of the party had raised questions of propriety and suggested privately that Sharma would step down until he got re-elected, the party leadership told him to continue in his chair. So, Sharma had been continuing as a minister without being a member of Parliament for the past two months.

He will be re-elected to Rajya Sabha on June 17.

The Maharashtra unit had argued, if tickets for the locals were denied for Sharma, it would give a missile to Raj Thackeray’s Maharashtra Navnirman Sena and Bal Thackeray’s Shiv Sena to rake up the Marathi manoos issue. Besides, party office bearers had also argued that it would lead to further disgruntlement within the party leaders and rank and file, if Sharma was nominated.

In Haryana, Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda also conveyed to the party high command that there was only one seat coming for election from the state and there would be a revolt in the party if an ‘outsider’ was nominated. Already, the Congress is suffering fierce factionalism in the state and the central command didn’t want to take further risk.

Interestingly, the Andhra Pradesh unit had also raised similar objections when asked to accommodate Jairam Ramesh. Although Ramesh is currently in the Rajya Sabha on Andhra Pradesh seat, the state unit this time wanted him to shift out. But, the high command made it clear to Chief Minister K Rosaiah that Ramesh had to be given another term from the state.

Along with Sharma, the Congress has also nominated Vijay Laxmi Sadho from Madhya Pradesh and former state minister, Ask Ali Tak, and veteran Congressman, Narendra Budania, from Rajasthan. From Maharashtra, it has nominated newspaper baron, Vijay Dardae, and party loyalist, Avinash Pande. Information and Broadcasting Minister Ambika Soni has got a renomination from Punjab, along with Sports Minister M S Gill.