Patna, March 1 The Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD), Bihar’s main opposition party, on Sunday decided to contest the upcoming Rajya Sabha elections, challenging the ruling NDA’s bid to win all five seats in the state without a contest.
The decision was taken at the central and state parliamentary boards’ meeting of the party held at the residence of founding president Lalu Prasad, which continued till late in the evening, though leaders were tight-lipped about rumours that the supremo’s heir apparent, Tejashwi Yadav, could be the candidate.
"Both the central and the state parliamentary boards have authorised the national president and the national working president (Yadav) to take a call on the Rajya Sabha elections. Yes, it has been decided that we will contest the elections," party MLA Bhai Virendra told reporters.
Echoing similar sentiments, senior leader and former Union minister Kanti Singh said, "Definitely we are going to contest the Rajya Sabha polls", and when asked about the party lacking the requisite numbers, retorted, "So what?".
Notably, of the five seats going to polls later this month, two are currently held by the RJD, which was decimated in the assembly polls held a few months ago, when it lost the required strength to send a member to the Upper House.
The party is now left with only 25 MLAs in the 243-strong assembly, and though it is likely to get the full support of Mahagathbandhan allies like Congress and the Left, their combined tally of 35 still falls nearly six seats short of the minimum number required for winning a Rajya Sabha seat.
Nonetheless, ever since elections were announced for the five seats, of which the NDA holds the remaining three, RJD leaders have been expressing the wish to contest one seat, pinning their hopes on the AIMIM, which has five members in the assembly, besides the lone MLA of former Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati's BSP.
Both AIMIM and BSP have been non-committal on supporting a Mahagathbandhan candidate.
AIMIM MLA and state unit chief Akhtarul Iman has hinted that he might run for the elections himself and remarked, "How long shall we go on supporting others in the name of secularism? It is high time that others supported us".
RJD leaders declined to disclose their candidate and, when asked about rumours surrounding Yadav, reiterated that the authorised leadership would take an appropriate decision.
Filing of nomination papers for the Rajya Sabha elections comes to a close on March 6. Although the NDA, which enjoys a brute majority with 202 MLAs in the state Assembly, is confident of retaining all its three seats and bagging two more, the BJP-led coalition is yet to announce any of its candidates.
Two of these seats are held by Chief Minister Nitish Kumar’s JD(U), which is expected to retain both, though it is not yet clear whether Harivansh Narayan Singh, the Deputy Chairman of Rajya Sabha, and Union minister Ram Nath Thakur, would be considered for a third consecutive term.
The BJP, which is the single largest party in the Assembly with 89 members, is understood to have made up its mind for two seats. Party sources maintain that candidates will be decided by the "central leadership", though names of national president Nitin Nabin, who is currently the MLA from Bankipur, and Bhojpuri superstar Pawan Singh, have been doing the rounds.
Of the seats which are falling vacant, one is held by Upendra Kushwaha, a former Union minister who heads the Rashtriya Lok Morcha, the smallest NDA partner, which has no member in the Lok Sabha and has only four MLAs.
Meanwhile, in a related development, Union minister Chirag Paswan, whose Lok Janshakti Party (Ram Vilas), with six Lok Sabha MPs and 19 MLAs, is the third largest alliance partner, also held a meeting of his party to discuss the Rajya Sabha elections.
Talking to reporters after the meeting, the Hajipur MP said, "If the RJD has decided to contest the Rajya Sabha polls, they are free to do so. I need not advise them to avoid a contest and follow the tradition of Bihar, where most Rajya Sabha MPs get elected unopposed".
"Nonetheless, their defeat in the Rajya Sabha elections is as certain as was their drubbing in the Assembly polls. The NDA will win all five seats. We face no contest in four of these, and we can easily bag the fifth one, given the cracks in the opposition coalition," added Paswan.
The LJP(RV) president, who has already made it clear that he was not eyeing a Rajya Sabha berth for his mother Reena, said, "Talks are underway, and you will soon get to know which smaller NDA partner shall get one of the five seats".