Rajani Patil could be the dark horse for the Rajya Sabha seat

@vivekbhavsar

Pradnya Satav, Sushilkumar Shinde, Avinash Pandey, Mukul Vasnik aspirants for Upper House

Mumbai: The bye-election to the lone Rajya Sabha seat that fell vacant due to the demise of sitting Congress member Rajeev Satav is scheduled to be held on October 4. Though Dr Pradnya Satav, wife of late Rajeev is lobbying in Delhi for herself, Rajanitai Patil, former MP and AICC general secretary would be dark horse.

Besides, Dr Pradnya, former union minister Sushil Kumar Shinde, AICC general secretary Mukul Wasnik and former Rajasthan Party in-charge Avinash Pandey are strong contenders for the RS seat from Maharashtra.

Rajeev Satav died due to Covid-19 complications on May 16 earlier this year and hence the Rajya Sabha seat fell vacant. Late Rajeev along with other six members from Maharashtra was elected unopposed to the Rajya Sabha in May 2020. In that biennial election four members were from Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), two from Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) and one from Congress got elected.

According to a Delhi source, Pradnya Satav is lobbying her name in the Delhi circle for RS polls. However, it was claimed that Pradnya had posted a private message from a party president on social media, due to which party leadership from Delhi were upset with her.

“Pradnya is a non-political person. Before the demise of Rajeev, she was never into active in politics. Spreading personal message on social media shows her lack of political sense,” claimed sources in Delhi while speaking with thenews21.

He further added that due to the same reason, Dr Pradnya cannot get the opportunity to enter the portals of the Rajya Sabha.

At present, there are only 34 Congress members in the Upper House of the Parliament as against 94 of BJP. The strength of Congress is declining from the Upper House, the source said.

He claimed, in such a situation, the opposition Congress needs a senior, experienced and aggressive person in the Rajya Sabha to attack the ruling BJP. 

“The leader who can perform in the Upper House would be preferable for Congress. Giving candidature to Dr Pradnya would be wastage of seat for the party and this is not the time of doing experiments,” claimed the source.

“There is a need to nurture Dr Pradnya Satav as a political leader and she must understand the culture of Congress. That is why she was appointed as vice president of the party in Maharashtra State Congress Committee (MPCC),” stated a senior leader from Maharashtra. He seconded the opinion of the Delhi source and said that Dr Pradnya Satav would not be considered for the RS seat.

However, he agreed that if considering the sympathy issue only, Dr Pradnya should be given candidature. 

Sushil Kumar Shinde had tried to get elected as an RS member last year. He is forwarding his name again.  However, the age factor is not in his favour. Shinde is over 80 years of age. 

The sources claimed, “Rajani Patil was the choice of Sonia Gandhi whereas party Vice President Rahul Gandhi was in favour of Rajeev. Only these two names were shortlisted and Rajeev was given candidature in 2020.”

According to sources, when Rajeev was given RS seat last year, Sonia Gandhi had assured Rajanitai Patil that she will be given a seat in Maharashtra State Legislative Council (MLC). Maharashtra cabinet has recommended her name in the list of 12-candidates. However, Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari is not approving these names to be nominated as MLC from the Governors quota.

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Considering this situation, Rajanitai’s possibility of being elected as MLC seems to be remote. Hence, she could be considered for the RS seat. 

Meanwhile, immediately after the demise of Rajeev, several Congress leaders are trying to push their candidature to be considered by the party high command for the vacant seat. 

However, Shinde, Mukul Wasnik and Avinash Pandey are considered to be serious aspirants. Of which, Shinde is over 80 years of age and hence there is less possibility of his name being considered by the party.

Avinash Pandey was forced to resign as party in-charge of Rajasthan after failure in handling rebel by party MLAs led by then Deputy Chief Minister Sachin Pilot. The latter had complained against Pandey to Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi that Pandey favoured Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot. This issue may go against Pandey and hence he could not be given the candidature, claimed the source.

Mukul Wasnik would be the most probable name who would be given the candidature. He is the general secretary of the party, a close confidante of Sonia Gandhi. He is the senior leader who was the union Parliamentary Affairs minister in Dr Manmohan Singh led United Progressive Alliance (UPA-1) government. These are plus points for Wasnik as the party needs a senior leader in the Upper House to tackle the ruling BJP.

A Maratha leader from Maharashtra, Rajanitai Patil could only serve a three year term in the Upper House after the death of then union minister and RS member Vilasrao Deshmukh.  Deshmukh passed away on August 14, 2012, and term of his RS membership was till August 9, 2015. 

“Congress always tries to maintain and promote Maratha face in the Upper House, as Maharashtra is Maratha dominated state. This community should be given proper representation in the Parliament,” said the source. He added that this is the strategy of Congress high command and hence Rajani Patil would be most probable name for RS seat.

Meanwhile, Dr Pradnya Satav while speaking with TheNews21 said that she did not approach any leader in Mumbai or in Delhi to push her candidature. “I will accept the decision whatever it will be. I will not speak anything about my candidature,” said Dr Pradnya Satav.

Who are the voters?

All elected members of the state legislative Assembly have the right to vote in RS polls. In Maharashtra Assembly, ruling Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) (Shiv Sena: 56, NCP: 54, Congress: 44) has the majority (150 plus) as compared to opposition BJP (106 plus 9 Independent’s). 

Rajya Sabha polls are held by open ballot, unlike the secret ballot system used in MLC polls.