Anand Sharma to contest RS polls from Rajasthan

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Union commerce minister Anand Sharma will contest the biennial elections to the Rajya Sabha from Rajasthan. The speculations in this regard ended after the Congress announced his candidature.

Mr Sharma’s Rajya Sabha tenure had expired recently. He was a member from Himachal Pradesh but the party could not get him re-elected from there as it did not have adequate strength in the state Assembly.
Besides him, other nominees to contest the Rajya Sabha elections from Rajasthan are: former minister Ask Ali Tak and the sitting MP Narendra Budania.
Former Union minister Santosh Bagrodia, who was a Rajya Sabha member from Rajasthan, however, failed to get a renomination from the state this time.
Biennial elections to four Rajya Sabha seats in Rajasthan and bypoll to one, will be held on June 17 following completion of the terms of four MPs and death of one sitting member.
In Karnataka, the Congress announced the name of Oscar Fernandes. It is unclear whether the party will contest a second seat of the AICC general secretary and sitting Rajya Sabha member B.K. Hariprsad.
The Congress can win a second seat if the Janata Dal(S) led by former Prime Minister H.D. Devegowda backs Mr Hariprasad.
But Mr Devegowda, with whom the Congress has been negotiating hard to seek its support for the second seat, is bargaining hard for a Cabinet berth to his son H.D. Kumaraswamy and putting other conditions. But he cannot afford to ask his MLAs to stay.
In Madhya Pradesh, PCC chief Suresh Pachouri has been an aspirant for long and in the last UPA government, he had to give up his ministership following failure to find a berth in the Upper House.