With Tamil Nadu being ruled out, Manmohan Singh to enter house of elders from Rajasthan

New Delhi, July 02: With the DMK not obliging a Rajya Sabha seat for Dr. Manmohan Singh, the former prime minister is likely to enter the Upper House of Parliament through Rajasthan.

A Rajya Sabha seat fell vacant in Rajasthan following the death of sitting BJP member Madan Lal Saini. The Congress would look to claim this seat, when the vacancy and election date is notified.

The DMK and the Congress were talks for a RS seat for Dr. Singh from Tamil Nadu. However the discussions were put on hold following the demise of Saini.

The DMK named three candidates for the elections for the Upper House from Tamil Nadu. It may be recalled that elections for six seats to the Rajya Sabha were announced by the Election Commission last month.

Taking into account the strength of the DMK in the Tamil Nadu assembly, it can send three MPs to the Upper House.

Reports had suggested that the Congress had sought one seat for Singh as his term from Assam had come to an end. In Assam the Congress does not have enough MLAs to nominate Singh.

As per the agreement, the DMK had decided to allocate one seat to MDMK, while the DMK would contest on the remaining two seats. A statement by the DMK stated that M Shanmugam and P Wilson are its nominees for the election, which will be held on July 18.

In the TN assembly, the DMK has 100 members, while the ruling AIADMK has 123.