Ghulam Nabi Azad, Anand Sharma don’t figure in Congress Rajya Sabha list

However, two G-23 leaders — Mukul Wasnik and Vivek Tankha — have been accomodated.

Ending the suspense over its Rajya Sabha nominees, the Congress late on Sunday evening released its list of 10 candidates for the upcoming Rajya Sabha elections.

In the party ruled States of Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh, all the nominees are “outsiders,” negating demands from some quarters that berths from these poll-bound States should be given to local leaders.

The list doesn't include Ghulam Nabi Azad and Anand Sharma, both key members of G-23 or the ginger group that had been pushing for internal reforms and collective leadership in a letter to party president Sonia Gandhi in August 2020.

However, two G-23 leaders have been included as Mukul Wasnik will be fielded from Rajasthan while Vivek Tankha will come from Madhya Pradesh.

As reported by The Hindu on Saturday, former Finance Minister P. Chidambaram will be the party's nominee from Tamil Nadu while Jairam Ramesh will be repeated from Karnataka.

Mr. Chidambaram, who earlier represented Maharashtra, now moves to his home State from where his son, Karti, is a Lok Sabha member.

Most of the nominees bear a clear imprint of former party chief Rahul Gandhi and party general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra.