In one of the biggest battles of the election, Birender Singh lost his seat at a time when he was aspiring to be the Chief Minister if the Congress returned to power and had even openly made his intentions known.

Following his defeat, he went into hibernation for a while before re-emerging on the political scene and was "accommodated" in the state coordination committee, constituted by the party high command to act as a bridge between the party and the government as also to monitor the functioning of the latter.

He was later given a couple of other assignments, including a say in decision-making for ticket-distribution in Rajasthan and Maharashtra.

However, after his defeat in the Assembly elections, rehabilitation as a Rajya Sabha MP had become almost mandatory to provide him with a platform to remain politically "alive and kicking". Sources maintain that the CM camp, too, subsequently supported his candidature since it was keen to see him move out of the state politics and "out of their hair".

While the Congress has cleared the name of its party nominee for the one Rajya Sabha seat that has fallen in its kitty, the Indian National Lok Dal, the other major political party of the state, is likely to finalise the name of its party nominee for the second vacant seat by tomorrow after a meeting of its MLAs.