There is trouble brewing for the Congress as the party’s Central Election Committee meets to decide on the second list of candidates for the Lok Sabha elections. Sources say that while Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi wants senior leaders to contest polls, many of them are reluctant.
Sources say Minister of State for Information and Broadcasting Manish Tewari is not keen on contesting from Ludhiana. Finance minister P Chidambaram too is not keen, but he prefers his son Karthi Chidambaram to contest from Sivaganga and prefers a Rajya Sabha route for himself.
Sources say even Rajasthan state Congress chief Sachin Pilot is not keen on contesting. His seat Ajmer is also being considered for cricketer turned politician Mohammad Azharuddin.
On Tuesday, Tamil Nadu screening committee meeting took place where Jayanthi Natarajan was asked to contest the Lok Sabha polls. However, sources say she too is not keen.
Meanwhile, those in the running for the Lok Sabha elections are tainted leaders including former Railway Minister Pawan Bansal, former Maharashtra CM Ashok Chavan and Suresh Kalmadi, say sources.
On Bansal, the Congress has said that any individual who is not an accused nor has been chargesheeted cannot be called tainted on mere perception. On Chavan and Kalmadi, the Congress said that they haven’t been nominated as yet nor has a ticket been denied.
