If the line-up of its latest Rajya Sabha nominations is any indication, the Congress has taken serious note of the Bharatiya Janata Party’s move to bring maverick leader Subramanian Swamy to the Upper House.
Responding to the challenge thrown up by its arch political rival, the Congress delved into its limited talent pool to pick its best legal brains and orators for the biennial elections to the Rajya Sabha scheduled for June 11.
Party president Sonia Gandhi named former finance minister P Chidambaram from Maharashtra while former ministers Kapil Sibal and Jairam Ramesh were nominated from Uttar Pradesh and Karnataka respectively. Well-known lawyer Vivek Thanka was nominated from Madhya Pradesh. Other candidates include Oscar Fernandes from Karnataka, Congress general secretary Ambika Soni from Punjab, Chaya Verma from Chhattisgarh and Pradeep Tamta from Uttarakhand.
RS war strategy
Several factors appear to have influenced the choice of candidates. There was stiff opposition to Chidambaram’s nomination from his detractors within the Congress, who felt the former finance minister had let the side down when he decided to stay out of the 2014 Lok Sabha contest. It was said that Chidambaram’s presence in the Rajya Sabha would provide the BJP with fresh ammunition to target the Congress because of the charges of financial irregularities against his son Karti.
But the Congress president chose to ignore these objections, chiefly because the Congress needs competent people in the Upper House to counter Swamy, a well known Gandhi family baiter.
Obviously picked by Prime Minister Narendra Modi to needle the Congress benches with continuous personalised charges against Sonia and Rahul Gandhi, Swamy got down to the job immediately. He had a run-in with the Congress members on his first day in the Upper House in April, and has not missed any opportunity to rile the main Opposition party since then.
Realising that Swamy’s one-point agenda is to discredit the Gandhis by levelling a series of charges against them, the Congress needed somebody like Chidambaram and Sibal to take on the irrepressible BJP leader.
Not only do the two former Congress ministers enjoy a formidable reputation in legal circles, they are also excellent speakers who can marshal their facts to put down their opponents. Their stint in the government will also help them take on the BJP’s ministers, particularly finance minister Arun Jaitley, who is the leader of the House in the Rajya Sabha and the chief batsman of the ruling alliance.
Although senior Congress leaders Ghulam Nabi Azad and Anand Sharma have put up a valiant fight in the Rajya Sabha so far, they could do with additional help from their seasoned party colleagues.
Jairam Ramesh has been given another term in view of his capabilities as a feisty opponent both in the House and in parliamentary committees – he led the Congress attack against the government on the contentious land acquisition Bill forcing the ruling BJP-led National Democratic Alliance to abandon the legislation.
In addition to Swamy, the ruling party has also acquired another Congress baiter Swapan Dasgupta, who is not just a well-known columnist and BJP ideologue but is better known in party circles as a close friend of Jaitley’s. Dasgupta may not be a lawyer but he can certainly argue his case well and, in this instance, he comes with a clear brief to demolish the Congress in general and the Gandhi family in particular.
Congress will stay aggressive
The Congress also felt compelled to improve the quality of its members in the Rajya Sabha to make up for its loss in numbers. The grand old party will continue to have an edge over the BJP after the July 11 elections to 57 Upper House seats. The Congress will remain the single-largest party in the 245-member House, but the gains made by the BJP and the losses suffered by the principal Opposition party will narrow the gap between the two parties considerably. The Congress numbers will come down from 64 to 58 while the BJP’s strength will go up from 49 to 52. The BJP will also get the additional support of the seven new nominated members.
Over the last two years, the Congress and other Opposition parties have been leveraging their numerical strength in the Rajya Sabha to stall the Modi government’s legislative agenda and to put the ruling alliance in the dock on a host of issues.
But the Modi government’s Parliamentary managers believe their job has become easier as their party has caught up with the Congress in the numbers game. Feeling far more confident after its impressive electoral victory in Assam, they will approach the Opposition parties from a position of strength.
The BJP is depending on the support of friendly Opposition regional parties like the Biju Janata Dal and the AIADMK, which have no compunction in dealing with the Modi government. Similarly, the Trinamool Congress is also expected to be more cooperative since its leader, West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee, has proved herself in the people’s court by winning a second consecutive term in the recent Assembly election.
With political equations set to change after the recent Assembly polls, the Congress is taking no chances. Instead of backing off, it has decided to persist with its aggressive approach towards the Modi government with the deployment of its party seniors. In fact, the latest set of Congress nominations has ensured that the Rajya Sabha will remain as interesting as ever.
Limited-time offer: Big stories, small price. Keep independent media alive. Become a Scroll member today!
Our journalism is for everyone. But you can get special privileges by buying an annual Scroll Membership. Sign up today!