After the Himachal tie loss, the Congress has now nominated senior leader Abhishek Manu Singhvi to contest the upcoming Rajya Sabha bypoll in Telangana.The by-poll was necessitated due to the resignation of former Bharat Rashtra Samithi MP K Keshava Rao, who switched to Congress last month.
"The Congress President, Shri Mallikarjun Kharge, has approved the candidature of Abhishek Manu Singhvi as Congress candidate to contest the ensuing bye-election to the Council of States from Telangana," Congress general secretary KC Venugopal said in a statement on Wednesday.
Shortly after the announcement, Singhvi took to X and wrote: "My sincere gratitude to Congress President (Mallikarjun) Kharge... Sonia (Gandhi) ji and Rahul (Gandhi) ji, to Priyanka (Gandhi) ji, and to all senior leadership for trust and faith reposed in me."
Rao had quit the Congress party in 2013 and joined the Telangana Rashtra Samithi (now Bharath Rashtra Samithi). But he returned to the grand old party in July, following the party's sweeping victory in Telangana.
Last week, the Election Commission of India (ECI) had announced bypolls for 12 Rajya Sabha seats in nine states.
Out of these 12 seats, 10 fell vacant after the members were elected to Lok Sabha in the parliamentary elections held earlier this year. These include Piyush Goyal, Jyotiraditya Scindia, Sarbananda Sonowal, Deepender Hooda, KC Venugopal, Biplab Deb, and Misa Bharti among others.
The last date for filing nominations for the by-polls is August 21 and the elections will likely be held on September 3.
Given Congress's majority in the 119-member Assembly in Telangana, Singhvi is likely to win the bypoll this time and enter the Upper House. With Singhvi's win, the party can inch up to 27 seats in the assembly.
Earlier this year, the grand old party had fielded Singhvi from Himachal Pradesh. However, the party's hopes of securing the seat were dashed after a cross-voting by some Congress MLAs led to the party's loss.
The Congress had a strength of 40 members in the 68-member Himachal Assembly. Besides this, it also had the support of three Independents.
However, due to the cross voting both BJP and Congress secured 34 votes each as six Congress rebels and three Independents voted in favour of the BJP candidate Harsh Mahajan. Subsequently, the winner was announced by a draw of lots.