While Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu and other Congress leaders have requested former All India Congress Committee (AICC) President Sonia Gandhi to contest election for Rajya Sabha seat getting vacated from Himachal Pradesh and are now awaiting a nod from Mrs. Gandhi.
The term of BJP’s National President JP Nadda, a Rajya Sabha member from Himachal Pradesh, is coming to an end on April 2, 2024 and the process to fill up the vacancy would begin on February 15.
Since the Congress has gained absolute majority in the last Assembly Election with 40 members in the House of 68 in HP Legislative Assembly, the win of a Congress nominee as Rajya Sabha member is almost certain.
The state Congress leaders have requested Mrs. Gandhi to contest the election herself or field her daughter Priynka Gandhi to fill up the Rajya Sabha vacancy.
Congress General Secretary Priyanka Gandhi has built a house at Chharabara near Shimla and stays there quite often with Mrs Sonia Gandhi and other family members. She was also a main campaigner of Congress during the last Assembly Election in Himachal Pradesh and played an important role in landslide victory of Congress.
There is a strong possibility Mrs. Sonia Gandhi may not contest the next Lok Sabha Election and may enter Rajya Sabha but nothing is certain and it entirely depends on her.
The name of former Union Minister Anand Sharma, who has been a Rajya Sabha member from Himachal Pradesh several times, is also doing rounds to fill up the Rajya Sabha seat from the state, in case Mrs Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi opt out.
Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu, Deputy CM Mukesh Agnihotri and HPCC president Pratibha Singh have recently met state Congress in-charge Rajiv Shukla to hold discussion in this regard in New Delhi and requested Mrs. Sonia Gandhi to contest Rajya Sabha election from Himachal.