With the announcement of elections for 37 Rajya Sabha seats, discussions have intensified in Bihar whether the RJD will field a candidate for the state’s fifth seat or give a walkover to the ruling NDA.
The five MPs from Bihar whose Rajya Sabha tenure is about to expire are Harivansh and Ram Nath Thakur of the JD(U), RLSP chief Upendra Kushwaha, and RJD leaders Prem Chand Gupta and Amarendra Dhari Singh.
At Present, the NDA has 202 MLAs in the 243-member Assembly. Out of the remaining 41 MLAs, 35 belong to the Mahagathbandhan (Grand Alliance). The other 6 are from Asaduddin Owaisi’s AIMIM and Mayawati’s Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP).
According to the fixed rules for Rajya Sabha elections, a candidate must secure the votes of 41 MLAs in order to be elected. With 202 MLAs, the NDA is assured of four seats.
The game is on for the fifth seat, for which the NDA is short of three votes to secure a win.
The entire opposition has only 41 votes, including five MLAs of Asaduddin Owaisi’s AIMIM and one of Mayawati’s BSP.
The RJD may get one of its MPs elected only if all Opposition MLAs stay together.
But the AIMIM announced on Thursday that it will field its own candidate and urged other Opposition parties to support its candidate.
AIMIM Bihar President Akhtarul Iman said that his party currently has no representative in the Rajya Sabha, and therefore the party wants its voice to be heard in the House.
Targeting both the ruling NDA and the Opposition alliance, Akhtarul Iman said that those who want to fight against communal forces in the country and protect the rights of Dalits, backward classes, and oppressed sections should support AIMIM.
He said that party chief Asaduddin Owaisi consistently raises the voice of weaker sections of society and is often the first to stand up wherever communal tensions arise in the country.
With this announcement, discussions have intensified whether Tejashwi Yadav will support the AIMIM, which damaged the electoral prospects of RJD-led alliance in the recent Assembly elections, or will give a walkover to the ruling National Democratic Alliance (NDA) led by Chief Minister Nitish Kumar.