With just members in the state assembly and nowhere in the race, congress may hit a jackpot in the coming Rajya Sabha elections.
Senior Samajwadi Party leader and former minister, Azam Khan has expressed his desire that noted lawyer Kapil Sibal be sent to upper house. Sibal had been instrumental behind the release of SP leader who was in jail for more than two years on various charges. While Sibal had appeared in the Supreme Court for Azam Khan, the later now wants to repay the debt. Khan was released from jail last week after the apex court had given him bail. According to a senior SP leader, Sibal has also appeared in few other cases related to his party leaders in the Supreme Court recently. In the past also Sibal had gone to Rajya Sabha from UP with the support of SP legislators.
When asked about it, Azam Khan, who was in Lucknow on Tuesday to attend the proceedings of the assembly, said that he would be the happiest one if SP were sending Sibal to Rajya Sabha. He said that Kapil Sibal deserves this and his candidature would be the best one. It may be mentioned that Azam Khan had thanked Sibal after his release from jail and said that the latter had toiled hard for his release and pleaded the case without taking a single penny.
Meanwhile, the nomination process for 11 seats of RS from UP began on Tuesday. As per the strength in the state assembly, the ruling Bhartiya Janta Party can easily send seven while SP 3 of its candidates in the RS. In the UP assembly, the SP alliance has 125 while BJP& its allies have 273 members. Both these parties would be having 14 additional votes for the 11th candidate. While BJP is planning to field an eighth candidate based on its 14 additional votes, SP too might do the same. To ensure victory in RS polls from UP 37 voters are required.
On Tuesday, no nominations were filed in UP for Rajya Sabha. The BJP state leadership has prepared a list of 15 names who could be probable candidates for RS Polls. Meanwhile, SP is yet to open its cards. According to SP leaders, one seat may be given to Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) chief Jayant Choudhury while one may go to a minority candidate.
