Digvijaya Singh set to end 10-year-long self-imposed exile, nominated for Rajya Sabha

Congress leader Digvijaya Singh (file pic)

New Delhi:  Congress general secretary Digvijaya Singh is set to end his 10-year-long self-imposed vanvas (exile) from active politics by agreeing to enter the Rajya Sabha from his home state, Madhya Pradesh.

He has also offered to contest the Lok Sabha elections due by May from any part of the country and against any candidate, sources said. 

In 2003, the 66-year-old Congressman suffered a stunning defeat at the hands of the BJP, led by Uma Bharti, and vowed to stay away from electoral politics for a decade. He was ousted by Ms Bharti, asanyasin or monk, after two terms as Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister. The BJP has ruled the state since. 

Mr Singh, also known as the Raja of Raghogarh and Diggy Raja, then shifted base to Delhi. His years of "political exile" have coincided with his party's 10 years of reign at the Centre, but Mr Singh, though always a prominent party leader, has not been a minister. 

He is, however, seen as being close to Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi, which has ensured him an important role in strategy building and in getting crucial assignments like the handling of state elections or the Telangana political crisis. 

That connection has reportedly also in no small measure helped him survive multiple controversies, mostly generated by his comments on social media and otherwise. On many occasions he has functioned as an official contrarian voice of the Congress and has positioned himself as chief enemy of the RSS-led Sangh Parivar and Narendra Modi, the BJP's prime ministerial candidate. 

The Congress today also cleared the names of M A Khan and KVP Ramachandran Rao from Andhra Pradesh, and Viplove Thakur from Himachal Pradesh. Former Delhi chief minister Sheila Dikshit's name too was in the reckoning for the sole seat from Himachal.

Giving him company on the Congress benches in the House of Elders will be Madhusudan Mistry, another party general secretary known for his proximity to Rahul Gandhi , and former union minister T Subbirami Reddy, who has been renominated from Andhra Pradesh. Mr Mistry enters the fray from Gujarat.

Sultanpur MP Sanjay Singh's name is also doing the rounds for one of the three seats that the Congress expects to win in Assam. If his name is indeed cleared by the party's top brass, it will effectively put a lid to speculation that he may switch his allegiance to the BJP before the Lok Sabha polls.