DMK allots one Rajya Sabha seat to Congress in Tamil Nadu, party leaders cite Udaipur rule to lobby against Chidambaram

The Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) in Tamil Nadu has allotted one Rajya Sabha seat to the Congress, a ruling coalition partner, for the upcoming polls and hectic lobbying for it within the grand old party has already started.

Polling for a total of 57 Rajya Sabha seats in 15 states will be held on June 10. Out of these, there are six vacancies in Tamil Nadu.

A political party to get its member elected would require the support of 34 legislators. The DMK with 159 legislators would be able to win four seats. On the other hand, the All India Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) with 75 legislators, including those of its allies, would be able to win two seats. The Congress is poised to win one seat.

And for that, many senior leaders have thrown their hats in the ring.

Former finance minister and senior Congress leader P Chidambaram, whose Rajya Sabha term from Maharashtra comes to an end on July 4 this year, is seeking re-election from Tamil Nadu this time.

The other contenders from the Congress are Praveen Chakravarty and state unit chief KS Alagiri.

This has enraged many Congress leaders as they are citing the new rules announced in the Udaipur declaration while urging the party high command to nominate a fresh face and not any existing member.

The first rule these leaders mention is the 'one family one ticket' norm, insisting that while his son Karti Chidambaram is already a Lok Sabha member from Tamil Nadu, he should not be re-nominated from the state.

The second rule they cited is that no leader would occupy a post for over five years. These leaders said that since Chidambaram had been a Rajya Sabha member for the past six years, he should not be repeated.

About Chakravarty, the Congress leaders claimed that he is basically an outsider with experience in data crunching and not hardcore politics.

Many Telugu Congress leaders in Tamil Nadu have staked their claim on the seat, saying the party should nominate a member of the community that constitutes 22% population of the state to the Upper House of Parliament.

Moreover, they said that the DMK has 20 legislators and five ministers and similarly other Telugu leaders are dominating other parties, including the AIADMK and BJP.

"None of the 18 Congress legislators is from the Telugu community. If nominated, it will generate a lot of goodwill among the Telugu community for the Congress," a leader said.

Tamil Nadu Congress general secretary K Chiranjeev and A Gopanna, chairman of the party's media department, are the two frontrunners for the seat.

While a decision is expected soon, it would be interesting to see if the Congress high command agrees to give one more term to Chidambaram from either Tamil Nadu or Maharashtra, where six Rajya Sabha seats are up for grabs too, or fields a fresh face.