In a signal to its up-and-coming leadership across India, the Congress on Thursday surprised many as it announced three fresh faces for the Rajya Sabha polls to be held on March 16 for 37 vacancies across 10 states.
The party’s three new faces include a Dalit leader in Haryana, a grassroots leader in Tamil Nadu from the Christian Dalit community, and a District Congress Committee (DCC) president in Himachal Pradesh. The party repeated two candidates – senior advocate Abhishek Manu Singhvi in Telangana and Phulo Devi Netam in Chhattisgarh – and gave a ticket to former Telugu Desam Party (TDP) leader Vem Narendra Reddy in Telangana, who joined the Congress in 2017 after resigning from the TDP.
The reactions to the nominees within the Congress were mixed. While some welcomed the party high command’s decision to give fresh faces a chance, some were “shocked” at the party’s picks and expressed disappointment over “veterans being ignored”.
Haryana
The three fresh faces include retired government employee Karamveer Singh Boudh, 61, a Dalit leader from Haryana who had joined the party a year ago after opting for the Voluntary Retirement Scheme (VRS).
Boudh, who is considered close to the All India Congress Committee’s (AICC) Scheduled Caste (SC) Department chief Rajendra Pal Gautam and AICC Other Backward Classes (OBC) Department head Anil Jaihind, was a gazette officer in the Haryana Secretariat, and is described by many as a “social justice crusader” working “selflessly” for social change. Boudh serves as the party’s SC Department’s national coordinator and was involved in organising the Samvidhan Sammelans led by Rahul Gandhi.
Boudh’s candidature for the Upper House of Parliament is also being seen as a message to Dalits in Uttar Pradesh, where Assembly elections are due in 2027, and where the party sees an opportunity to tap into the community’s votes with Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) chief Mayawati receding to the margins of state politics over the last few elections.
With Boudh not belonging to any of the Congress camps in Haryana – led by former Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda and Dalit leader and MP Selja Kumari – he faces an uphill task in the Rajya Sabha election. With two Rajya Sabha seats from Haryana falling vacant, the Congress has enough MLAs in the Assembly to win at least one seat, barring any cross-voting by party legislators.
Tamil Nadu
The second surprise pick by the party is a leader from Tamil Nadu’s Tiruchirappalli district – M Christopher Tilak, a Dalit Christian who has risen through the party ranks over the years.
Tilak, 53, serves as an AICC secretary for the Northeastern states of Manipur, Nagaland, Tripura and Sikkim. Described as a “grassroots” leader without a political background, Tilak is considered a staunch party “loyalist” in Tamil Nadu and the Congress ecosystem in Delhi. Known to be close to Rahul Gandhi, Tilak has worked for the party in Andhra Pradesh and Odisha. Hailing from a state where the Congress has been reliant on its ally DMK for decades, Tilak has carved out an identity within state politics and has been noticed by the Congress high command for his “dedication”, said party leaders in Tamil Nadu.
While there are six Rajya Sabha seats from Tamil Nadu falling vacant, the Congress has fielded a single candidate as part of its seat-sharing deal with the ruling DMK for the forthcoming Assembly polls. The DMK-led alliance’s strong position in the Assembly means it has enough MLAs to secure at least four vacant seats, with the remaining two likely going to the AIADMK-led Opposition.
Himachal Pradesh
In another surprise pick, the Congress nominated District Congress Committee (DCC) chief Anurag Sharma as its candidate for the lone Rajya Sabha seat from Himachal Pradesh.
Sharma, 47, is also the president of the Bir-Billing Paragliding Association, and has considerable hold over the tourism industry in the hill state. Sharma is a close confidant of Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu.
His nomination for a Rajya Sabha seat is a signal to DCCs across India that the party is planning to give power to the district heads being appointed under the nationwide Sangathan Srijan Abhiyan launched in December 2024, an organisational revamp that is considered Rahul Gandhi’s brainchild.
Sharma currently serves as the president of the Kangra District Congress Committee and is considered an active party worker who has held several organisational positions in the past.
With just one Rajya Sabha vacancy from the Congress-ruled Himachal Pradesh, the party is guaranteed to win the seat.
Telangana
While these three picks surprised the Congress, the fourth pick – Vem Narender Reddy in Telangana – was less of a surprise. A former TDP MLA from Mahabubabad and a close confidant of Telangana CM A Revanth Reddy, 65-year-old Narender Reddy hails from the influential Reddy community in Telangana.
In May 2015, Narender Reddy made headlines when CM Revanth Reddy, then an MLA, was accused by the state Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) of “bribing” a sitting legislator to vote in favour of Narender Reddy in the state’s Legislative Council elections.
In Telangana, where two Rajya Sabha seats are falling vacant, the ruling Congress is expected to secure both berths given its outright majority in the Assembly. For the second Telangana seat, the party has re-nominated senior advocate Abhishek Manu Singhvi, 67, who has been a Rajya Sabha from three states since 2006. His nomination this time is expected to sail through for his fifth term in the Upper House.
Meanwhile, in Chhattisgarh, prominent tribal leader Phulo Devi Netam has been re-nominated for a second term in the Rajya Sabha. With two seats falling vacant in the state, the Opposition Congress has enough MLAs in the Assembly to win one seat, with the other expected to go to the ruling BJP.
While Singhvi’s candidature was described by party leaders as a “need” for legal purposes as a Supreme Court lawyer, 54-year-old Netam was part of a group of Congress leaders targeted in the 2013 by Maoists in Chhattisgarh’s Darbha valley while returning from a party meeting in Sukma. More than 20 people had died, while Netam had survived the attack.
Party leaders in Delhi say the high command’s choices are a signal to the workers in the states that “dedication” towards the Congress will be rewarded. “Picking a DCC chief, a grassroots leader, an unknown Dalit is a great message to those who are trying to rise up in the party,” said a Congress Rajya Sabha member.
There are however critics of the picks too – especially in Haryana. “The party high command has nominated people after hearing those who have no ground knowledge and realities. Time will tell how these candidates do in the elections,” said a senior leader from Haryana.