Rajya Sabha : AAP in trouble to select candidate for Rajya Sabha seats

Rajya Sabha : AAP in trouble to select candidate for Rajya Sabha seats

Multiple names are floating in AAP circles as the party’s prospective nominees for three Rajya Sabha seats going to the polls on January 16.

The term of three incumbent members from Delhi — Janardhan Dwivedi, Karan Singh and Parvez Hashmi, all representing Congress — will end by the end of January.

One of the strong contenders may be Kumar Vishwas, an AAP founding member and its Rajasthan in-charge who has openly hinted at his desire to represent the party in the upper house. A campaign on social media platforms projecting Vishwas as a nominee is on for a few days with some of his supporters even conducting online polls to showcase his popularity.

Two more senior party functionaries, Sanjay Singh and Ashutosh, are also considered among the frontrunners for the Rajya Sabha seats, said sources. The ruling AAP has 66 out of 70 seats in the assembly — enough for all three of its candidates to make it to the upper house of Parliament.

AAP initially approached former RBI governor Raghuram Rajan but he had rejected the offer. It is also being speculated that the party is considering a former Union minister, a vocal critic of the economic policies of the Modi government, and a senior advocate as potential nominees.

The party believes that people of national stature would bolster its voice in Parliament, said sources. AAP may also consider people who have been associated with it and have earned a name through their work.

Within the party, picking up one leader over another may fuel factionalism, weakening AAP ahead of the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, said a source. Its senior functionaries are still tight-lipped about any name.

The final decision will be taken by AAP’s political affairs committee. “Nothing has been decided yet about the Rajya Sabha elections. No meeting regarding it has taken place either,” said Singh. The Election Commission will issue the notification for the elections on December 29 and the last day for nomination will be January 5.