Rajya Sabha polls: Allies stake claim, put BJP in a tight spot

Patna: The upcoming Rajya Sabha elections for five seats in Bihar have left the BJP in a peculiar situation. Even as Rashtriya Lok Morcha (RLM) chief Upendra Kushwaha has already set his sights on a Rajya Sabha berth, citing pre-Bihar assembly poll deals, BJP’s another ally and Union minister Jitan Ram Manjhi has also reminded the top saffron leadership about the promise of an RS seat assured earlier, serving what is being seen as a “subtle warning”.

Talking to reporters in Patna, Manjhi claimed his party was promised two Lok Sabha and one Rajya Sabha seats as part of the earlier seat-sharing deal. “We were promised two LS and one RS seat, and we are confident that the BJP leadership will honour its commitment... We will wait till the end,” Manjhi told the media on Tuesday.


Serving a “subtle warning”, the Union minister said, “Ham maang nahin karenge... Dekhte hain dete hain ki nahin (We won’t make any formal demand for RS berth. We will wait if the BJP leadership honours its commitment),” Manjhi added.

The development came barely three days after Kushwaha raised a similar issue before the media, virtually staking a claim to a Rajya Sabha berth. “Although it’s (decision about RS candidates) an internal matter of the NDA, it must be explained for what reasons I was promised the Rajya Sabha berth,” Kushwaha told the media on Saturday when asked whether he would reach the Upper House once again.

When specifically asked by a media person if he aspired to be nominated again, he shot back, “Aapse ham puchhen ki jis sanstha me kaam kar rahe hain uske head banne ki ichha hai (Should I ask you if you wish to become the head of the organisation you are working for)?” He added that they would sit together and decide the issue.

The RS polls to be held on March 16 have emerged as an “acid test” for the BJP, and it remains to be seen how it handles its over-ambitious allies — Kushwaha and Manjhi. However, much to the BJP’s relief, LJP (Ram Vilas) chief and Union minister Chirag Paswan has dismissed speculation about his mother Reena Paswan contesting the upcoming Rajya Sabha polls, noting that she wants to stay away from politics.

“Let me make it very clear that my mother is not a claimant for any of the 5 Rajya Sabha seats for which elections have been announced. She may have appeared in public in her capacity as a mother or as a wife, but she wants to stay away from active politics,” he said last week.

Of the five Bihar seats, the terms of three NDA MPs and two Grand Alliance MPs are set to expire, making the contest strategically important for both alliances. However, given its numerical strength, the NDA can comfortably win four seats — two BJP and two JD(U) — but it will require three cross-votes to sweep all five seats in the state