Rajya Sabha polls: Political tie-ups against NDA face acid test in Bihar, Odisha

NEW DELHI: As the nomination process for Rajya Sabha elections spread across 10 states ended on Thursday, moves for new political alignments, including a rare BJD-Congress tie-up in Odisha and unity of BJP's rivals in Bihar, are up for a stern test, while developments in Maharashtra signalled that attempts for the merger of the two NCP factions have come to naught.

While candidates in most states are set to be elected unopposed, both Bihar and Odisha are headed for a keen battle on March 16.




RJD's decision to renominate its outgoing MP and businessman A D Singh has forced a contest in one of the five seats in Bihar. He can even pull it off if all of BJP's rivals, including 5 AIMIM MLAs and the lone BSP MLA, join hands with the RJD-Congress-Left combine.

Yet, the NDA camp, which will have 38 votes to spare for the fifth seat after allocating the necessary 41 votes each to ensure its win on four seats, is sanguine about its prospects in the belief that a contest will only end up exposing divisions in the opposition's ranks and even force some defections.

Unity among all opposition parties will get Singh 41 votes, but AIMIM, which was snubbed by the RJD-led alliance on its suggestion for a tie-up during last year's polls, is yet to spell out its stand.

The political temperature in Odisha, another state where a contest is on the cards, has gone up a notch after Congress decided to back BJD's choice of an eminent doctor, Datteswar Hota, and BJP then announced its support for former Union minister Dilip Ray, a well-networked hotelier contesting as an independent candidate.

Archrivals for decades, BJP's swift ascendancy in the state has brought BJD and Congress together; both parties can pull together 32 MLAs to ensure Hota's win against the requisite backing of 30.

However, instances of discontent within the two parties have muddied the waters. BJP has a history of outmanoeuvreing its rivals in closely contested RS seats, and its decision to back Ray is driven by its instinct to play on their internal differences to spring a surprise.

With all three MVA parties backing Sharad Pawar's renomination for the lone seat they could win of the seven on offer, claims of his supporters about an "imminent merger" between the two NCP factions should pause.

A senior Sena UBT functionary said they have been told there is little possibility of the two factions coming together, as the group headed by Ajit Pawar's wife, Sunetra Pawar, never warmed up to Sharad Pawar's desire - marking a reversal of his public "I have had enough" stance - to do another term in RS .

Parth Pawar, the son of Ajit Pawar who is set to be elected unopposed, will be arrayed against his grand uncle as a member of NDA.

In the elections to 37 Rajya Sabha seats, the BJP-led NDA has continued with its push to expand its social coalition by reaching out to different sections of society, illustrated by their nominees from Maharashtra. BJP has backed a Dalit in Ramdas Athawale, a tribal woman in Maya Chintaman Inwate, a Maratha in its national general secretary Vinod Tawde and Ramrao Wadkute, and an OBC candidate from Dhangar community. Its ally Shiv Sena, too, has picked a Dalit woman, Jyoti Waghmare.
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