RJD, allies hold meeting to plan strategy for Rajya Sabha elections

Patna: A crucial meeting of the RJD and its allies was held here on Tuesday to chalk out strategy for the upcoming Rajya Sabha elections. Coming out of the meeting, the party’s national working president Tejashwi Prasad Yadav expressed strong confidence about his candidate’s victory.

“The discussions at the meeting were very positive and we are confident of our candidate’s victory. We will win the elections,” Tejashwi told reporters after the meeting was over.




RJD’s senior MLA Bhai Birendra claimed they had enough numbers for the party’s candidate’s victory, stating all the MLAs were intact and would vote solidly for him. “Right now, we have 41 MLAs in our support and we hope their numbers will increase. There is no worry for us,” he added.

Elections for the upcoming Rajya Sabha polls is now certain in Bihar, as there are six candidates—five from the NDA and one from the RJD—for five Rajya Sabha seats which are going to be vacant next month. The RJD renominated businessman-turned-politician Amarendra Dhari Singh for the polls to the Upper House of Parliament.

Strangely, the entire opposition has 41 members, exactly the number the RJD needs to see its candidate emerge victorious, but that is possible only when the opposition remains united. It is worth mentioning here that the Grand Alliance has only 35 MLAs, while the remaining six belongs to the AIMIM and the BSP. Strangely, they were not invited to the meeting.

An RJD leader said the AIMIM and BSP MLAs were not invited to the meeting since the party leadership was in touch with them and hoped to get their support. “We can’t say whom our party will support. The matter is under discussion,” state AIMIM chief Akhtarul Iman told reporters on Tuesday, adding they were not invited to the meeting. He said he was discussing the issue with their central leadership.

The NDA has a total of 202 members in the state assembly, which means four of its candidates could comfortably reach the House, but it needs three cross-votes to win its fifth candidate too. On the other hand, the opposition hoped that the reported anger among the JD(U) MLAs over the alleged plot to “remove CM Nitish Kumar from the throne of Bihar” could prompt them to vote for the opposition candidate.