Patna: In a twist ahead of the Rajya Sabha elections, the RJD on Sunday formally decided to enter the fray and authorised the party’s two senior-most leaders — national president Lalu Prasad and his son and national working president Tejashwi Prasad Yadav — to select a suitable candidate.Elections are due for five Rajya Sabha seats in Bihar following the completion of the terms of five members — three from the NDA and two from the RJD. Each candidate requires 41 votes to secure victory, and the entire opposition collectively has exactly 41 votes in the 243-member assembly.“The meeting of the RJD parliamentary board held here on Sunday formally decided to contest the Rajya Sabha polls and authorised its two top leaders, Lalu and Tejashwi, to find a candidate for one seat,” a senior RJD leader said.The NDA had won 202 seats in the 243-member Bihar assembly in the recently held state elections, enabling it to comfortably secure four seats. However, it would require three cross-votes to sweep all five. The RJD’s decision to field a candidate has added a fresh layer of uncertainty and made the contest more competitive.For the RJD to secure victory, it would need the backing of the entire Opposition, including the Congress (6), CPI-ML (2), CPI(M) (1), IIP (1), AIMIM (5) and BSP (1). The RJD itself has 25 MLAs in the assembly.What makes the contest particularly intriguing is the position of AIMIM, led by Asaduddin Owaisi, which is planning to field its own candidate. The BSP, on the other hand, has a past record of extending support to the ruling side. Both parties have remained outside the INDIA bloc or the Grand Alliance and had contested the recent Assembly elections independently.Meanwhile, speculation is rife in political circles that Tejashwi himself may enter the fray. However, party leaders have remained officially “tight-lipped” on the possibility, maintaining suspense over the final choice of candidate.
