The Rajya Sabha election race in Bihar has the NDA in knots. While the alliance is aiming to win all the five seats being vacated in April, there are multiple claimants to the seats, including Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar’s son Nishant Kumar.
The Lok Janshakti Party (Ram Vilas), which has no presence in the Rajya Sabha, is learnt to be pushing for a berth. This could effectively deny Rashtriya Lok Morcha (RLM) chief and outgoing RS member Upendra Kushwaha a ticket. To further complicate matters, Jitan Ram Manjhi’s Hindustani Awam Morcha (Secular) has also thrown its hat in the ring.
As the last date (March 5) for filing nominations for the Rajya Sabha polls is drawing close, the RLM chief has reportedly been asked to merge his party with the BJP to secure re-nomination. While there is no official word from the BJP on the merger offer, RLM sources said Kushwaha might not go for it as it would dilute his political identity and put an end to his bargaining power.
Kushwaha, meanwhile, is reminding the BJP that it had promised him a re-election to the Rajya Sabha. It was on this promise that Kushwaha had agreed to settle for just six seats in the pre-poll seat negotiations in the Assembly polls.
Even on the assured seats — two for the JD(U) and two for the BJP — there is a tussle within the respective parties on who would be sent to the Upper House. Newly appointed BJP president Nitin Nabin, sources said, could be one of the candidates from the BJP.
JD(U) sources said Ramnath Thakur, the son of former Bihar CM Karpoori Thakur, is almost sure to get re-elected to the Upper House, but the suspense over Nishant’s nomination continues.
A party source said: “Nishant’s name has been seriously discussed with top leadership of the party. The final call will be taken by Tuesday. A good number of leaders want Nishant to start his politics with a national identity.”
This could well be at the cost of Rajya Sabha Deputy Chairman Harivansh, who will complete two terms in the House this April. “Those aligned with Harivansh ji are pushing for his re-election. But there is a growing view in the party that Nishant should be sent to the Upper House as he is the future of the party and his political standing needs to be strengthened,” a party functionary said.
The other contender for the second JD(U) seat is party national general secretary and former bureaucrat Manish Verma, said the sources.
Five Rajya Sabha members who are retiring this April include three from the NDA camp — Kushwaha, Harivansh and Thakur — and two from the RJD — Premchand Gupta and Amarendra Dhari Singh. With 243 Assembly seats, the magic number for Bihar is 41 votes. The JD(U) and the BJP have 85 and 89 seats respectively, securing them two seats each. For the fifth, the NDA, which won 202 seats, has 38 votes and needs three more.
“There could be cross-voting from the Opposition camp. The INDIA bloc does not have the numbers to secure a seat. Only if the entire Opposition, including the BSP and the AIMIM, comes together will they be able to secure 41 votes,” an NDA leader said.
Sources said the LJP (RV) was pushing for an RS ticket on the back of its impressive performance in the Bihar polls where it won 19 of the 29 seats it contested. The LJP (RV) is learnt to have argued that Kushwaha has already secured his family by getting his unelected son, Deepak Prakash, a Cabinet berth in the Bihar government. For this, the RLM will have to get him elected on an MLC seat.
HAM’s Manjhi too is pushing for a seat. “Ahead of the 2024 general elections, we were promised by top BJP leaders two seats in the Lok Sabha and one in the Rajya Sabha. But we got only one Lok Sabha seat, and we won it. The promise on the Rajya Sabha seat remains to be fulfilled,” Manjhi told reporters recently.
A BJP leader said if things do not settle down, the party could field its candidates on all three seats. “If there is too much acrimony, the central leadership may field its candidate on the third seat as well and ask allies to fall in line,” a BJP leader said.
In the INDIA camp, the RJD has taken the lead by deciding in its Parliamentary Board meeting on Sunday that it would field a candidate. While there is buzz within the party that RJD’s national working president Tejashwi Yadav could be fielded, sources said, it would happen only if the party is confident of victory. In the alternative, the party may field industrialist and outgoing MP A D Singh.