Congress nominates Sibal, Chidambaram, Jairam for RS

The Congress Party on Saturday nominated senior leaders including Jairam Ramesh, Kapil Sibal and P. Chidambaram for the Rajya Sabha.

Congress spokesperson R.S. Surjewala told the media that Congress president Sonia Gandhi and vice-president Rahul Gandhi, in consultation with all the leaders of different states, have decided on the Rajya Sabha nominees of the Congress.

"From Chhattisgarh Chhaya Verma, she is an OBC leader, from Karnataka Oscar Fernandes and Jairam Ramesh and the third seat will be filled up in consultation of General Secretary in-charge, PCC president and the Chief Minister of the state, from Madhya Pradesh Vivek Tankha, from Maharashtra P.Chidambaram, from Punjab Ambika Soni, from Uttar Pradesh Kapil Sibal and from Uttarakhand Pradip Tamta," he said.

Surjewala said that the party sincerely hopes, that with the active support of the Congress leader and the legislators, not only these Congress nominees will be elected with full majority but they will also play a pioneer role in the Upper House.

There have been 57 retirements to the Rajya Sabha in the previous session.

Congress president Sonia Gandhi has had several rounds of meetings with senior leaders while Ghulam Nabi Azad and other senior leaders met to decide on names of the probable.