Aggressive BJP politics or Congress’ internal sabotage: What led to Meenakshi Natarajan’s failed Rajya Sabha bid?

Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) working president KT Rama Rao on Sunday accused Telangana Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy of “backstabbing” Meenakshi Natarajan, the AICC in-charge for Telangana, leading to the rejection of her nomination papers for the Rajya Sabha election from Madhya Pradesh.

Rama Rao alleged that Reddy had a “false case” registered against Natarajan after she brought his alleged “irregularities and scams” to the notice of the Congress high command. He further claimed that information about the case was subsequently passed on to BJP leaders in Madhya Pradesh.

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Natarajan’s nomination was rejected on the grounds that she had failed to disclose a pending court case arising from a complaint filed in Telangana in 2022. While objections regarding the Telangana case were formally raised by Madhya Pradesh BJP leaders, the development triggered speculation and allegations over who had allegedly shared the information with them.

However, the controversy did not end there.

Apart from allegations of internal sabotage within the Telangana Congress, there also appeared to be discontent within the Madhya Pradesh Congress over Natarajan’s candidature, which bypassed several local leaders.

Senior Congress leaders in the state had reportedly voiced objections and warned of possible cross-voting after the party’s central leadership decided to nominate Natarajan for the June 2026 Rajya Sabha elections. There were also claims that the state unit had not been adequately consulted before the decision was made.

Amid fears of cross-voting and possible poaching attempts by the BJP, which had fielded a third candidate despite lacking the numbers on paper, the Congress shifted some of its MLAs to Bengaluru.

However, voting never took place.

In a major setback for the Congress, Natarajan’s nomination papers were rejected during scrutiny by the Returning Officer. BJP candidate Mahesh Kewat had objected to the nomination, alleging that Natarajan failed to disclose in her affidavit a case registered against her in Telangana.

The Congress termed the rejection an “unconstitutional theft of a seat” and approached the Supreme Court. The apex court, however, declined to intervene while the election process was underway.

The BJP subsequently secured all three Rajya Sabha seats from Madhya Pradesh unopposed. BJP candidates Mahesh Kewat, Tarun Chugh and Rajneesh Aggarwal were declared elected following the rejection of Natarajan’s nomination.