Chidambaram, Kapil Sibal, Jairam Ramesh nominated for Rajya Sabha polls

NEW DELHI: The Congress High Command on Saturday decided to bring back P Chidambaram and Kapil Sibal to Parliament by nominating them for Rajya Sabha berths from Maharashtra and Uttar Pradesh respectively from where the Congress can elect one member each to the Upper House.

For Chidambaram, the RS nomination means rehabilitation in Parliament after he bowed out of contest in the 2014 Like Sabha polls. His re-entry into Parliament also comes at a time when Chidambaram is being targeted by the BJP over Ishrat Jehan affidavit issue and over the ED probe on his son.

Sibal, who lost last Lol Sabha polls, is one of the legal eagles of the Congress, defending party brass and state governments in sensitive cases, including the Gandhis in the National Herald case.

From its Karnataka quota, the AICC has fielded senior leader Oscar Fernandez and former union Minister Jairam Ramesh with the latter being shifted to the state from Andhra Pradesh which he represented in the House in the earlier stint. Ambika Soni has got the expected renomination to Rajya Sabha from Punjab.

The AICC also fielded Chaya Verma from Chattisgarh in place of retiring Mohsina Kidwai, From Madhya Pradesh senior leader and lawyer Vivek Thanka, a close associate of Digvijaya Singh, got the party ticket while Pradeep Tanya got party ticket from Uttarakhand, replacing the retiring member and 10, Sampath loyalist Satish Sharma. The formal election of all of them will take place after the the completion of formalities such as filing nominations.