RJD to field candidate for Rajya Sabha polls

Patna: The Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD), Bihar’s main Opposition party, on Sunday decided to contest the upcoming Rajya Sabha polls, challenging the ruling NDA’s bid to win all five seats in the state without a contest.

The decision was taken at the central and state Parliamentary boards’ meeting of the party held at the residence of founding president Lalu Prasad, which continued till late in the evening, though leaders were tight-lipped about rumours that the supremo’s heir apparent, Tejashwi Yadav, could be the candidate.

“Both the central and the state parliamentary boards have authorised national president and the national working president (Yadav) to take a call on Rajya Sabha polls.

Yes, it has been decided that we will contest the elections”, party MLA Bhai Virendra told reporters.

Echoing similar sentiments, senior leader and former Union minister Kanti Singh said, “Definitely we are going to contest the Rajya Sabha polls”, and when asked about the party lacking the requisite numbers, retorted, “So what?”.

Notably, of the five seats going to polls later this month, two are currently held by the RJD, which got decimated in the Assembly polls held a few months ago, when it got robbed of the requisite strength to send a member to the Upper House.

The party is now left with only 25 MLAs in the 243-strong Assembly, and though it is likely to get the full support of Mahagathbandhan allies like Congress and the Left, their combined tally of 35 still falls nearly six seats short of the minimum number required for winning a Rajya Sabha seat.

Nonetheless, ever since elections were announced for the five seats, of which the NDA holds the remaining three, RJD leaders have been expressing the wish to contest one seat, pinning their hopes on the AIMIM, which has five members in the Assembly, besides the lone MLA of former Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati’s BSP.

Both AIMIM and BSP have been non-committal on supporting a Mahagathbandhan candidate.

AIMIM MLA and state unit chief Akhtarul Iman has hinted that he might run for the elections himself and remarked, “How long shall we go on supporting others in the name of secularism? It is high time that others supported us”.

RJD leaders declined to disclose their candidate and, when asked about rumours surrounding Yadav, reiterated that the authorised leadership would take an appropriate decision.