While two major political parties in Tamil Nadu have announced their candidates for the upcoming Rajya Sabha polls in the state, the Congress has apparently been showcasing a stumbling state in finalizing its candidate. The polls are a fortnight away from now and they will be replacing the seats of six MPs who are at an end of their tenures. 

Based on the current strength in the assembly, the ruling DMK can win four seats while the rest two can be bagged by the ADMK. Recently, the DMK has announced its three candidates as it has awarded a seat to its ally, the Congress party as per the deal that was inked during the 2021 assembly polls. Earlier this week, in the midst of an intra-party crisis, ADMK has announced its two candidates. 

The polls will be held on June 10 and the process of filing the nominations has been underway with the DMK candidates filing their nominations on Friday - May 27. However, the Congress party is yet to announce its candidate for a seat as the state leadership hasn't reached a consensus to finalize the candidate. According to our sources, the Congress party is driving through a tug-of-war between two senior leaders - former Union Minister P Chidambaram and Tamil Nadu Congress Committee President KS Alagiri.

P Chidambaram was previously elected to the Rajya Sabha from Maharashtra and as his tenure is closing to an end, he has been negotiating with the party's high command to retain his Rajya Sabha ticket, this time, from his home state Tamil Nadu. On the other hand, the Tamil Nadu Congress unit will be having a new leader and the current leader KS Alagiri is lobbying the high command to award the seat to him after he steps down as the state president. 

However, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi has been mulling nominating a young leader from the state after the party has made a resolution in the recently-held Jaipur summit to provide more opportunities for young leaders. At the same time, Congress is of the opinion that P Chidambaram must be in Rajya Sabha and that he has been a leading face of the party in attacking the BJP.

Though he had faced CBI raids recently, Chidambaram will most likely win that one seat and will enter Rajya Sabha. As the last date for filing nominations is May 31, the party cadres expect that the final candidate will be announced soon.