New Delhi:
Union Minister Kapil Sibal's Lok Sabha constituency in Delhi will be one of the 16 seats across the nation where the Congress is planning to hold US-style primaries to have party workers choose candidates for the national election, due by May.
Mr Sibal's Chandni Chowk seat is one of the two Delhi seats thrown open for the primaries that are Rahul Gandhi's idea of bringing transparency and healthy competition to a process marred by lobbying and nepotism.
This comes amid speculation that Arvind Kejriwal could take on the Congress heavyweight in this constituency if he decides to enter the national poll battle. In the Delhi election, Mr Kejriwal's Aam Aadmi Party won in segments that came within Mr Sibal's constituency.
"I am going to contest Lok Sabha election from Chandni Chowk, let anybody be in the fray," the union minister was quoted by the Press Trust of India as saying today in response to the possibility of a direct face-off with Mr Kejriwal.
After Congress' shockingly poor show in four state elections last month, Mr Gandhi had promised to draw lessons from the Aam Aadmi Party's success and "change the party in ways you can't imagine."
Sources say by throwing open the process to the party hopes to identify candidates who are "winnable" and enjoy genuine support among grassroots workers.
The choice of a high-profile seat like Chandni Chowk, held by Mr Sibal for two terms, has come as a surprise to many, but sources in the Congress pointed out that even close Rahul Gandhi aide Meenakshi Natrajan's seat Mandsaur in Madhya Pradesh has been thrown open.
Mr Sibal has been the face of the government's media offensive for years, but in the revamped list of spokespersons ahead of the an election seen as the party's most challenging in recent years, the minister's name was noticeably absent.