Patna, March 12 JD(U) national general secretary Ashok Choudhary claimed on Thursday that the NDA had "12 extra votes" at its disposal for the Rajya Sabha elections in Bihar, where candidates include Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, who heads the party, and BJP president Nitin Nabin.
Choudhary, an influential minister in the Nitish Kumar government, made the statement in the evening, emerging from a meeting of NDA leaders held at the residence of Deputy CM Samrat Choudhary.
The JD(U) leader also dismissed attempts by the RJD, which has fielded a candidate, to seek the support of Hyderabad MP Asaduddin Owais's AIMIM, which has five MLAs in the state assembly.
"Their attempts will be futile," asserted Choudhary, when asked about the prospects of the RJD-led Mahagathbandhan, which has 35 MLAs and hopes to secure the backing of BSP's lone legislator besides those of the AIMIM.
On Wednesday, AIMIM state unit president Akhtarul Iman, who is also an MLA, had met Tejashwi Yadav, the Leader of Opposition in the Bihar assembly and national working president of the RJD.
Iman had described the meeting as "positive", indicating that the AIMIM could back RJD's Amarendra Dhari Singh, whose entry into the fray has necessitated voting for five seats on March 16.
When it was pointed out to Choudhary that despite having a brute majority in the assembly, the NDA's combined tally of 202 fell three short of the number of votes required for a comfortable victory for all its five candidates, he cryptically replied "we will have 12 extra votes on the date of polling".
The minister did not divulge further details.
His cabinet colleague Lakhendra Paswan, a BJP leader who was present at the same meeting, said in reply to questions from journalists: "Indeed, the NDA will win all the five seats comfortably. We need not say right now which of the parties are going to witness cross-voting. All will be clear on the day of polling".
Besides Nitish Kumar and Nitin Nabin, the other NDA candidates include Union minister Ram Nath Thakur (JDU), former central minister Upendra Kushwaha (Rashtriya Lok Morcha) and ex-MLA Shivesh Kumar (BJP).