New Delhi, June 3
The Congress today renominated four sitting Rajya Sabha members, including Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh, for the upcoming biennial elections to the Upper House from Andhra Pradesh.

Besides Ramesh, others whose names were cleared today include JD Seelam, V Hanumantha Rao and N Janardhana Reddy. The Congress, on its own, could have won only three seats but it was able to ensure the victory of its fourth candidate after actor-politician Chiranjeevi of the Praja Rajyam Party met Sonia Gandhi and announced that his MLAs would vote for the Congress in the Rajya Sabha elections. Sitting member and media baron Girish Sanghi failed to make the cut.

The other two ministers - Ambika Soni and Anand Sharma - who are also due for another term, will also be renominated. While Soni will be nominated from Punja, Anand Sharma is expected to be fielded either from Maharashtra or Rajasthan. Sharma is a sitting MP from Himachal Pradesh but cannot get re-elected from his home state as the Congress does not have the requisite strength in the state Assembly.

Earlier this week, the Congress had announced the nomination of Captain Satish Sharma, a Nehru-Gandhi family loyalist, from Uttar Pradesh. The Congress has only 20 legislators in the state Assembly but Sharma’s victory is assured as the RLD and Mulayum Singh Yadav’s Samajwadi Party are supporting his candidature.

If the names announced so far by the Congress are any indication, it would appear that all sitting MPs will be renominated for another term. Union ministers AK Antony, MS Gill and Ashwani Kumar, whose terms ended in April, have already been re-elected to the Rajya Sabha.

In Rajasthan, sitting Rajya Sabha MP Narendra Budania, a Jat leader, is expected to be renominated while Mohsina Kidwai, who represents Chhattisgarh, is also set for another term. The Congress can only win one seat on its own in Karnataka for which sitting member Oscar Fernandes is expected to be named again. However, the candidature of BK Hariprasad, its second sitting MP, has run into trouble following the breakdown in negotiations between the Congress and the Janata Dal (S). The Congress was in talks with the JD (S) as it does not have the numbers for the re-election of a second candidate.

Party sources said Hariprasad may be fielded from the lone seat in Madhya Pradesh that is being coveted by former Union Minister and present state unit chief Suresh Pachauri. One of the two seats which the Congress can win in Maharashtra is expected to go to sitting Rajya Sabha MP and media baron Vijay Darda.