Patna, Feb 20 (PTI) The opposition Mahagathbandhan on Friday said it was banking on the support of AIMIM and BSP, parties with which it has never aligned, to win one out of five Rajya Sabha seats in Bihar for which elections have been announced.
The RJD-helmed grand alliance, which includes Congress, CPI(ML) Liberation and CPI(M), as well as the fledgling IIP, has only 35 members in the 243-member assembly, six fewer than the minimum number required to get a berth in the Rajya Sabha.
The AIMIM, headed by Hyderabad MP Asaduddin Owaisi, has five MLAs while the BSP, helmed by former UP Chief Minister Mayawati, has one.
Of the five Rajya Sabha seats that go to polls, two were held by the RJD. The ruling NDA, which now has a brute majority in the state assembly, has made it clear that it would go for the jugular and try to grab all five seats with the help of its 202 MLAs.
“The NDA is going to contest all five seats. We are aware of the fact that we need three more votes to make a clean sweep in the Rajya Sabha polls in Bihar. But these will be managed,” JD(U) national general secretary Ashok Choudhary had said on Thursday.
However, senior RJD MLA Bhai Virendra told reporters on Friday, “There is no democracy without a contest, and we will be fighting for at least one of the five Rajya Sabha seats. We have the support of all our alliance partners. We are confident that AIMIM and BSP, too, will rise to the occasion and put aside small differences.” The views were echoed by Congress MLA Qamrul Hoda and CPI(M)’s Ajay Kumar, both of whom were of the view that “Owaisi and Mayawati would, hopefully, realise that the Mahagathbandhan has been fighting for Muslims and Dalits. In effect, we are fighting their battle in Bihar. So we expect them to help us at this critical juncture”.
They, however, ducked queries about the shabby treatment given to the AIMIM in the assembly polls, when repeated pleas by Owaisi for an electoral alliance were rejected by the Mahagathbandhan and the Hyderabad MP was ridiculed as a “B team of the BJP”.
This was, however, made light of by Ranvijay Sahu, another RJD MLA who is also the state general secretary of the party.
“Whatever differences may have been in the past would be resolved by our top leadership. In the days to come, our national working president, Tejashwi Yadav, would reach out to Owaisi, and we will win a Rajya Sabha seat with his help,” he said.
Yadav, who briefly turned up at the assembly, ducked queries on the Rajya Sabha polls when he was approached by a posse of journalists.
“You will get to know about things when these happen,” was the curt reply of the leader of the opposition.
When AIMIM state president Akhtarul Iman, who is also an MLA, was approached with queries a day ago, he shot back, “Why is it that our party is always seen as an entity which should keep supporting others. For a change, why should others not come and support our bid?” Later, to a pointed query as to whether he was hinting that the AIMIM itself could enter the fray in the Rajya Sabha polls, he told PTI Bhasha cryptically, “Who knows, it could be so.” The BSP’s lone MLA, Satish Kumar, also refused to reveal his cards when he was asked about the Mahagathbandhan’s plea for support.
A senior NDA leader, who did not wish to be named, remarked tongue in cheek, “What would the poor MLA say. His supremo, Mayawati, has been known to offer her support, especially in states where her party is not a force to reckon with, to the highest bidder.” According to sources in the NDA, the JD(U), which holds two of the five seats, will be allowed to retain both of these. A decision will be taken by Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, the JD(U)’s supreme leader, on whether Harivansh Narayan Singh, the Deputy Chairman of the Upper House, and Ramnath Thakur, a Union minister and son of Karpoori Thakur, shall get a third consecutive term.
The BJP, which is the single largest party in the assembly with 89 MLAs, is likely to fight for two seats. Speculations are rife that one of its two candidates could be Nitin Nabin, the Bankipur MLA who was appointed the party’s national president.
NDA sources also said that junior partner Lok Janshakti Party (Ram Vilas), headed by Chirag Paswan, might get the fifth seat. Chirag is said to have been keen on a parliamentary berth for his mother, Reena Paswan.
One of the five seats is currently held by former Union minister Upendra Kushwaha, an NDA ally.
Sources in the BJP-led coalition said he would agree to the “bargain” of giving up his seat in exchange for the support to his son Deepak Prakash, who has been inducted into the state cabinet, and must get elected to the state legislature in a couple of months to retain the ministerial berth. PTI TEAM NAC SOM
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