Controversy in Congress after announcement of Rajya Sabha candidates

Voices of discontent have started rising within the party after the Congress announced its 10 candidates for the Rajya Sabha elections. Actress and Mahila Congress general secretary Nagma on Monday said that the promise of sending her to the Upper House was made 18 years ago, but it has not been fulfilled till date.

He has also raised questions about the appointment of Congress’s Minorities Department chairman and poet Imran Pratapgarhi as a Rajya Sabha candidate from Maharashtra.

The Congress on Sunday announced 10 candidates for the Rajya Sabha elections to be held on June 10. P Chidambaram has been fielded from Tamil Nadu, Jairam Ramesh from Karnataka, Ajay Maken from Haryana and Randeep Surjewala from Rajasthan.

The party has fielded Mukul Wasnik and Pramod Tiwari from Rajasthan, Vivek Tankha from Madhya Pradesh, Rajiv Shukla and Ranjit Ranjan from Chhattisgarh and Imran Pratapgarhi from Maharashtra.

After the announcement of the candidates, Congress national spokesperson Pawan Khera indirectly expressed his displeasure. He tweeted and said, “Maybe something was missing in my penance.” Retweeting Kheda’s tweet, Nagma said, “Our 18 years of penance also fell short in front of Imran (Pratapgarhi) bhai.”

Congress leader Acharya Pramod Krishnam openly expressed his dissatisfaction. Retweeting Kheda’s tweet, he said, “Suppression of talent is a ‘suicidal’ step for the party.”

Regarding Nagma’s remark of “18 years of penance”, Krishnam said, “The penance of Salman Khurshid, Tariq Anwar and (slave prophet) Azad Saheb is 40 years old, they also became martyrs.”