The latest selections for the Rajya Sabha may have hurt the Gandhi family’s image more than the uncomfortable questions about leadership persistently raised by the dissenters known as G-23, as ordinary party workers see the list as an obstinate refusal to learn from past mistakes.

While the workers who had expected a new approach after the Udaipur Chintan Shivir reacted with anger and dismay to some of the nominations, even the blind loyalists privately conceded that the exercise should have been carried out with greater purpose and maturity.

“We are disappointed at some inclusions. We don’t know whether this reflects a sense of insecurity or arrogance,” a party functionary known for his devotion to the family told The Telegraph.

While it is accepted that some senior leaders had to be accommodated because of their experience and utility, there is almost a unanimous view that some of the other nominations should have been avoided.

“These choices can’t be defended, neither on the ground of political exigency nor on that of merit. What is worse is the process of selection. What was the consultative mechanism? That’s why the demand for the parliamentary board was justified. We know the state leaders are not on board with these choices. They wanted local representation,” a senior leader said.

Ordinary workers are accusing Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi of pushing their personal choices instead of making decisions on the basis of political logic.

An AICC member who had viciously attacked the G-23 to defend the Gandhis said on Monday: “When we are fighting for survival, we have to put our best foot forward. We can accommodate a few outsiders but the message here is of a planned attack on local sentiments. We are getting calls; the MLAs are very uncomfortable. The majority of party workers are disappointed. We can now see that the questions raised by the G-23 had merit.”

Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh have voted for the Congress in these turbulent times but the party hasn’t responded in the same spirit. In 2019, when former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh was nominated from Rajasthan, nobody objected because of his stature. But in 2020, Kerala leader K.C. Venugopal was nominated from Rajasthan. Now, a year before the state goes to the polls, all three nominees are from outside the state. While Randeep Surjewala is from Haryana, Pramod Tewari is from Uttar Pradesh and Mukul Wasnik from Maharashtra.

Surjewala has been sent to Rajasthan because Bhupinder Singh Hooda was not ready to support his candidature in his home state Haryana. Wasnik has been accommodated because not a single leader in Maharashtra supported his candidature.

A senior leader from Maharashtra on Monday asked in an off-the-record conversation: “What are the high command’s compulsions? Why shouldn’t they ask the state leaders who we want in the Rajya Sabha? What is our political need? They did a great service to us by not thrusting Wasnik on us but what comes instead is worse. A poet from Uttar Pradesh who is of no political use to us.” The reference was to Imran Pratapgarhi.

Earlier, too, Rajeev Shukla and P. Chidambaram had been nominated from Maharashtra.

The BJP has grabbed the opportunity to accuse the Congress of insulting the people of Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh. In Chhattisgarh, a tribal state, Rajeev Shukla from Uttar Pradesh and Ranjeet Ranjan from Bihar have been imposed from above. No leader from Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh, the two states where the Congress is in power, has been picked for the Rajya Sabha. Three have been chosen from Uttar Pradesh, which has rejected the party for over three decades.

Many leaders from Rajasthan privately expressed outrage, arguing that at least one candidate should have been from the state. They said the high command’s insensitivity would cost the party in the Assembly elections next year.

A leader said chief minister Ashok Gehlot had wanted one Scheduled Caste and one Other Backward Class candidate from the state in the Rajya Sabha.

Sanyam Lodha, Gehlot’s adviser and MLA from Sirohi, tweeted: “Congress party should explain why nobody from Rajasthan was sent to Rajya Sabha.” He tagged his tweet to Rahul and Priyanka.

While leaders who work in Delhi get better networked and influence the leadership to secure berths for themselves, others who have struggled in the states for decades remain unnoticed.

Party spokesperson Pawan Khera too lamented his exclusion by tweeting: “Shayad meri tapasya mein kami reh gai.”

While many responded by saying that he deserved the reward, some argued that aspiring to a Rajya Sabha seat cannot be called “tapasya”.