Many Congress contenders for RS vacancy from Uttarakhand

DEHRADUN: BJP leader Bhagat Singh Koshyari's Rajya Sabha term is set to end in June. As the numbers favour the Congress, top leaders from that party in Uttarakhand are now pitching their favourites or kin for the post.

After the Congress's rout in the Lok Sabha polls, with all five seats going to the BJP, the race for the Rajya Sabha seat is likely to see Chief Minister Harish Rawat at loggerheads with his predecessor Vijay Bahuguna - party sources indicate that both these leaders are are eyeing the Rajya Sabha ticket for his own camp.

Rawat reportedly favours assembly speaker Govind Singh Kunjwal as party candidate, while Bahuguna wants the ticket to go either to his son Saket or himself. Saket lost the Lok Sabha polls from Tehri.

Koshyari was recently elected to the Lok Sabha from Nainital. His six-year term in the Upper House expires this year, and he is expected to resign next month.

In the 70-member Uttarakhand assembly, the Congress has 33 MLAs and enjoys the backing of seven PDF members (comprising three BSP, three Independent and one UKD member). The BJP, on the other hand, has been reduced to only 28 members, after legislators Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank and Ajay Tamta won the Lok Sabha elections from Haridwar and Almora respectively.

A senior Congress leader, asking not to be named, said, "Both Bahuguna and Rawat should realise that the Congress has a wafer-thin majority in the state, and we should not take any chances by backing any sitting MLA for the Rajya Sabha seat."

He said that given how the BJP swept the Lok Sabha polls in the state, any move that could lead to an assembly by-poll could prove ill advised.

A leader close to Bahuguna said, "He is a deserving candidate who won the Lok Sabha elections in 2009, and has also served as chief minister."

Naming Kunjwal as party candidate could provide Rawat an opportunity to contest the by-poll. Rawat, who took oath as chief minister on February 1, needs to register a win from an assembly constituency before July 31 to remain in the post. Doiwala and Someshwar, two seats to be vacated by Nishank and Tamta after winning the Lok Sabha polls, are also options Rawat might consider.

"The chief minister will win the assembly by-poll from any seat. Kunjwal will prove to be the right choice for the Rajya Sabha," a party insider close to Rawat said.