By IANS,
Raipur : Chhattisgarh’s two Congress stalwarts and bitter foes, V.C. Shukla and Ajit Jogi, are lobbying hard for a Rajya Sabha berth in elections due next month, Congress sources said Friday.
Two Rajya Sabha seats in the state fall vacant in June. One seat each will go to the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Congress. While the BJP has 48 members in the 90-member assembly, the Congress has 39.
Congress sources say that a number of party leaders, including state president Dhanendra Sahu, have lined up for the seat but their calculation has been upset by the two party veterans jostling for the berth.
Though 81-year-old Shukla has not openly claimed for party ticket, he has activated his channel in New Delhi to strongly claim for the seat, held by party leader Mohsina Kidwai, the party sources said.
The never-say-die Shukla, who rejoined the Congress for the fourth time in late 2007, is trying to enter parliament for the 10th time.
“Nine-time Congress MP Shukla is silently working on his plan to return to parliament… But his bete noire Jogi is out to spoil his chances,” a well placed source told IANS.
Jogi, 63, Chhattisgarh’s first chief minister and now a legislator, has also begun lobbying to return to central politics through the Rajya Sabha, party insiders said.
Jogi has been wheelchair-bound since a road accident in April 2004 almost killed him.