NEW DELHI, NOV 5: Election to the three Rajya Sabha seats from Delhi may be three months away but hectic lobbying has already begun in the Congress for the same.At least two All India Congress Committee general secretaries - Ambica Soni and R K Dhawan - top the list of the Congress party's dozen-odd aspirants to the seats. Dhawan lost from the New Delhi constituency for the third time in a row and now pinning his hopes to make it to the Parliament through the Rajya Sabha route.Soni is seeking the ticket on the ground that she hails from the Capital and could not be given the Lok Sabha ticket. Since she is considered close to AICC president Sonia Gandhi, she is hoping to be accommodated under the women category.Another prominent leader who can make it to the Rajya Sabha is Jagpravesh Chandra. He did not contest from his traditional Assembly seat in November last year on the assurance that he may be brought to the Upper House.The names of M L Fotedar, a Gandhi family loyalist, Delhi hotelier Lalit Suri, Jagdish Tytler who lost the Sadar seat to the BJP by a narrow margin recently, and Sajjan Kumar who was denied the Lok Sabha ticket, are also being mentioned for the Rajya Sabha seat.Subhash Chopra, president of the Delhi unit of the party and MLA, is also keen to enter the Rajya Sabha.Sajjan Kumar has raised the banner of revolt in the party and claims the support of 20-odd MLAs in a house of 70. He has been impressing upon the party high command that his nomination to the Rajya Sabha alone can undo the injustice done to him.The BJP leaders in Delhi are banking on Sajjan Kumar to break the party. Legally, elections for the three RS seats are held separately. Therefore, the party having a majority in the house of 70 seats has been winning all the three seats. Since Sajjan Kumar alone is capable of causing a split, he is being encouraged by the Congress dissidents and the BJP to do so. He has been mobilising a campaign to remove Delhi Chief Minister Shiela Dixit who had strongly opposed his ticket for the recently held Lok Sabha polls.Rajesh Khanna, who was a Lok Sabha MP and campaigned for the party during this elections, is also hoping to be rewarded. The name of Shabana Azmi's writer husband, Javed Akhtar, is also being mentioned for the RS seat from Delhi.
