As the discussions in ruling combination were in the final stages on the selection of candidates for the five Rajya Sabha seats falling vacant from Bihar, Union minister and LJP(RV) chief Chirag Paswan on Monday said all the five MPs to be elected from the state in the March 16 election will be from the NDA.
As LJP(RV) has 19 MLAs and it would like to get a Rajya Sabha nomination, another NDA partner and RLM chief Upendra Kushwaha, whose Rajya Sabha term is expiring, is likely to meet Union home minister Amit Shah in Delhi. Sources said BJP may offer him to merge his party and get re-elected to the Rajya Sabha.
HAM(S) national president and a minister in the Nitish Kumar cabinet, Santosh Kumar Suman, said the NDA is likely to reach a consensus on the five candidates by Tuesday.
“NDA is intact and we have the numbers to win all the five seats,” he said.
HAM(S) founder and Union minister Jitan Ram Manjhi is also a claimant for the fifth seat. Manjhi has clarified that the BJP leadership had promised him a Rajya Sabha seat.
Speaking to media at a Holi gathering held at his party’s state office on Monday, Chirag exuded confidence that the NDA has the numbers. He also challenged RJD national working president Tejashwi Prasad Yadav to try his luck.
He said if Tejashwi becomes a candidate in the Rajya Sabha elections, he will face defeat again.
RJD MLAs on Sunday authorised party chief Lalu Prasad and his son Tejashwi Prasad Yadav to select a candidate to contest the election. To win a Rajya Sabha seat from Bihar, one needs the support of 41 MLAs. RJD has 25 MLAs and its allies Congress, Left parties and Saharsa MLA I P Gupta brings the total to 35.
Amid speculations that Tejashwi may like to field himself, RJD sources ruled out the possibility given the numbers required as the Mahagathbandhan, with 35 MLAs, will need absolute support from the five AIMIM and one BSP member to win. However, RJD is keen to contest one seat and may opt between the outgoing MPs Amrendra Dhari Singh and Lalu loyalist Prem Chand Gupta.
AIIMM state chief and MLA Akhtarul Iman, who had a meeting with Tejashwi, reiterated on Monday that no decision has been taken so far to support RJD as his party will like to field its own candidate. “One side has 38 MLAs, another has 35. I recently met the LoP, Tejashwi. I told him that we are fighting for secularism and representing dalits, backward classes, and minorities. A large section of them supports us. Therefore, we should be given an opportunity in the Upper House,” Iman said.
In the NDA camp, BJP and JD(U) have numbers to win two seats each. The NDA, with 202 MLAs, will need three more votes to win the fifth seat.
