TMC chief Mamata Banerjee had proposed the names of Sharad Pawar, Farooq Abdullah and Gopalkrishna Gandhi, but the Congress and the Left block reached out to Yashwant Sinha instead
The BJP managed to win Azamgarh with tacit assistance from BSP leader Mayawati. She put up a local Muslim candidate who split the SP vote right down the middle
When Hemant Soren was asked to give one Rajya Sabha seat to the Congress, he turned down the proposal and gave the seat to a local tribal leader instead
TCA Raghavan is a former Indian High Commissioner to Pakistan and Singapore. His first book, Attendant Lords: Abdur Rahim and Bairam Khan: Courtiers and Poets in Mughal India, was awarded the Mohammad Habib Prize by the Indian History Congress. He is also the author of The People Next Door: The Curious History of India’s Relations with Pakistan and History Men: Jadunath Sarkar, G S Sardesai, Raghubir Sinh and Their Quest for India’s Past. His latest book is Circles of Freedom: Love, Friendship and Loyalty in the Indian National Struggle