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Cong ally IUML to get Rajya Sabha seat in biennial Kerala polls
Two senior Congress strategists in Delhi corroborated the claims and said an IUML candidate will be backed by the Opposition bloc, UDF
The Congress ally, Indian Union Muslim League (IUML), said on Monday that it will get a Rajya Sabha seat in the biennial polls of Kerala in April, an arrangement that may rule out former Leader of the Opposition Ghulam Nabi Azad’s return to the Upper House anytime soon. Two senior Congress strategists in Delhi corroborated the claims and said an IUML candidate will be backed by the Opposition bloc, UDF.
Refuting speculations that the Congress and IUML might enter into an agreement to give Azad a seat from Kerala, national president of IUML Kader Mohideen told HT, “The seat will go to someone from Kerala. There are a lot of youngsters here and our party will select a qualified young man for the seat.”
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“Our party leaders have decided they won’t give it to any outsider. So, Ghulam Nabi Azad’s matter does not appear in our internal discussions,” Mohideen added.
Three Rajya Sabha seats from Kerala will go for elections in April, before the state faces its assembly elections. As elected MLAs vote for Rajya Sabha through the method of proportionate representation, two out of the three seats will go to the ruling LDF and the Congress-led UDF will get just one seat.
Two senior Congress strategists and Mohideen said that as per the arrangement the IUML will field a UDF-backed candidate for the Opposition’s seat.
“We have a good understanding with the Congress. Wayanad Lok Sabha constituency was our traditional seat. But in 2019, we gave up our claims on that seat for Rahul Gandhi to contest,” Mohideen added.
Ghulam Nabi Azad, who retired from the Rajya Sabha on February 15, could not be re-elected from J&K as there is no assembly in the Union Territory. Union home minister Amit Shah has told Parliament that statehood will be restored at an appropriate time.
To be sure, Azad too said that he has no inclination to come to Rajya Sabha from Kerala. In an interview to HT, Azad said, “I don’t want to take away a seat from my friends in Kerala.”
