The Congress has fielded former State chief Bharatsinh Solanki and former leader of the Opposition Shaktisinh Gohil as the Rajya Sabha candidates for two seats in Gujarat.
Their candidature was announced by the party high command late on Thursday night after nearly two dozen legislators warned the party against fielding any ‘outsider’.
The legislators were upset after the name of the Congress leader and former Union Minister Rajeev Shukla came as the party’s candidate. Though officially it was not announced it was reported in the local media, which prompted the MLAs to swing into action and convey their displeasure to the high command.
“I am very happy that the party high command has selected two senior local leaders for Rajya Sabha. Our opposition was only against any outsider,” Congress MLA Baldevji Thakor said.
He and other legislators voiced their concerns in the Assembly after Mr. Shukla’s name had surfaced in the local channels.
Another key contender for the nomination was former State chief Arjun Modhvadia, who is now likely to take over as the State party chief.
Mr. Gohil is a former leader of the Opposition and currently in charge of party’s organisational affairs in Bihar and Delhi while Mr. Solanki, son of former Chief Minister Madhavsinh Solanki, was Union Minister in the UPA regime.
The BJP is currently holding three of the four seats while one is with the Opposition Congress. And as per the arithmetic, both the BJP and the Congress can get two seats each in the absence of voting as per the number of legislators on both sides.
On Wednesday, the BJP has fielded tribal leader Ramila Bara and Chief Minister Vijay Rupani’s protege Abhay Bhardwaj as the party candidates. It is not yet certain whether the ruling party will announce third candidate and force the voting despite the fact that it’s short of numbers.
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