The Congress on Sunday opted for lightweight candidates like Imran Pratapgarhi and Ranjeet Ranjan for the Rajya Sabha, contrary to speculation about accommodating veterans Ghulam Nabi Azad and Anand Sharma.

Pratapgarhi, the party’s minority department chairperson and a poet from Uttar Pradesh, has been fielded from Maharashtra. Ranjeet Ranjan, former Lok Sabha member from Bihar and wife of controversial leader Pappu Yadav, has been given ticket from Chhattisgarh.

Wantonly violating the principle of preference to local leaders, Rajeev Shukla has been picked as the second candidate from Chhattisgarh.

Although both Chhattisgarh and Rajasthan will go to polls next year, both the states were used by the party high command to reward loyalists without caring for the local sentiment.

From Rajasthan, all three candidates are outsiders — Randeep Surjewala, Mukul Wasnik and Pramod Tewari. Rajasthan had already sent K.C. Venugopal, another outsider, to the Rajya Sabha in the last election.

The desperation to accommodate office-bearers, leaders who already hold key positions in the organisation, appears to be the guiding principle behind the selections. Some leaders saw this as disregard of the spirit of Udaipur Chintan Shivir where the stress was on one man, one post.

They felt the leadership rewarded only a select few by giving everything to them, both organisational responsibilities and parliamentary seats.

P. Chidambaram has been nominated from Tamil Nadu. Jairam Ramesh will return to the Rajya Sabha from Karnataka.

Mukul Wasnik, general secretary and an integral member of the high command for almost three decades, was favoured with a Rajya Sabha nomination at a time the party is thinking of limiting the term of office-bearers to five years. Surjewala also hold the post of general secretary.

Shukla, Ranjeet Ranjan and and Vivek Tankha, who has been nominated from Madhya Pradesh, are all AICC office-bearers.

There is a possibility of another candidate from Jharkhand, and Azad’s name is doing the rounds for the seat. The delay is perhaps because of some dispute with chief minister Hemant Soren who wants to field a candidate from the JMM.

Although the list was released late in the night, initial reactions in the party have been extremely negative. Majority opinion is that the leadership had not changed its ways despite the party’s existential crisis.

“There is a coterie in the party and the same coterie will be transplanted in Parliament,” said an angry senior leader, predicting fresh trouble for the party in the coming days.