Arjun, Shinde in race for Rajya Sabha berth

The Congress Party re-nominated Human Resource Development Minister Arjun Singh from Madhya Pradesh and Law Minister HR Bhardwaj from Haryana for the biennial elections for the Rajya Sabha scheduled on March 28.

Union Power Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde was nominated from Maharashtra, while Rajya Sabha Deputy Chairman K Rehman Khan will be the party's candidate from Karnataka. Shinde's nomination was a certainty as he was recently inducted into the Cabinet after his resignation as Andhra Pradesh governor.

AP Pradesh Congress Committee Chief K Keshav Rao and Congress-affiliated trade union INTUC President G Sanjeeva Reddy were nominated from Andhra Pradesh. The other two nominated by the party from the state are Rashid Alvi and Dasari Narayan Rao.

Union Minister of State Dasari Narayan Rao got the party's nomination despite opposition from a section of the state Congress unit. In a setback to Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister YSR Reddy, who was lobbying for his close associate Ramchandra Rao, the party high command refused to oblige him.

Congress spokespersons Rajiv Shukla and Abhishek Singhvi have been nominated from Maharashtra and Rajasthan, respectively. Shukla's nomination comes as a big disappointment for Maharashtra PCC Chief Prabha Rau, who was aspiring for a ticket for the Upper House. Singhvi apparently sprung a surprise on industrialist RP Goenka and Congress leader Moolchand Meena, who were said to be eyeing the slot from Rajasthan.

Former MP from Uttar Pradesh Satyavrat Chaturvedi who was recently axed as AICC general secretary in-charge of UP got a relief with the party nominating him from Uttaranchal. Chaturvedi's name also came as a surprise as there were many contenders from Uttaranchal, the most prominent being Chief Minister ND Tiwari, who had recently offered to resign as chief minister.

Himachal Pradesh PCC chief Viplav Thakur will be the party candidate from the state for the Upper House. Former MP Praveen Rashtrapal was nominated from Gujarat. Mabel Rebelo was nominated as Congress candidate from Jharkhand.

Industrialist Rajiv Chadrashekhar is an Independent candidate supported by the BJP-JD(S) from Karnataka, the other BJP seat having gone to K Shanappa. Chandrshekhar's candidature required JD(S) support since he was 10 votes short of a clear win with just BJP support. Chandrashekhar is considered close to members of Atal Behari Vajapayee's establishment and his candidature was being pursued by BJP leaders Anantha Kumar and Vekaiah Naidu. Deputy Chief Minister Yediurappa, however, wanted a more political face for the seat. The name of Shakuntala Hegde, wife of former Karnataka chief minister Rama Krishna Hegde also did the rounds.

In Bihar too, the BJP-JD(U) alliance is sparring over who would take the lion's share out of the four seats that fall in the BJP-JD(U) kitty. The BJP has already nominated Ravi Shankar Prasad, while the race for the three seats claimed by the JD(U) is between Upendra Kushwaha, former MP Arun Kumar, JD(U) General Secretary KC Tyagi and former Samata Party leader Jaya Jaitley. The trade off will be the candidature of Shanawaz Hussain from Bhagalpur Lok Sabha bye-election.

NCP has renominated Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel and senior leader Vasant Chavan as party candidates for the biennial elections from Maharashtra. Patel, a three-time Lok Sabha MP, first entered the Rajya Sabha in 2000.