Sonia Gandhi likely to take Rajya Sabha route to Parliament

New Delhi, February 13

Former Congress president Sonia Gandhi will file her nomination for the Rajya Sabha elections from Rajasthan on Wednesday, top party sources said.

The Congress was in a position to win one of the three Rajya Sabha seats from Rajasthan, they said, adding Sonia could have chosen southern states of Telangana or Karnataka, where the party had its government. However, she wanted to represent a state from the Hindi heartland since her son Rahul Gandhi already represented a Lok Sabha constituency (Wayanad) from the southern state of Kerala, the sources said.

The move came days after PM Narendra Modi took a dig at the Congress, stating its leaders had lost the confidence to contest polls and were looking for the Rajya Sabha route to enter Parliament.

However, it is learnt that Sonia has decided not to fight the Lok Sabha elections any more due to health reasons. Her daughter and party general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra will make her debut in the electoral contest as she will be fielded by the Congress from Raebareli in the place of her mother.

The biennial Rajya Sabha elections are scheduled to be held on February 27 for 56 seats from 15 states. The last date for filing the nomination is February 15. The Congress, which is in a position to win around 10 seats, is yet to announce nominees.