Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar will meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi in New Delhi on Wednesday, days ahead of the trust vote his new government is seeking in the state assembly on February 12.
KC Tyagi, general secretary of CM Kumar’s Janata Dal (United), said it is a courtesy visit. “As far as Rajya Sabha elections are concerned, nothing is decided as yet,” he said, referring to the elections for the upper house of the Parliament scheduled on February 27 in which six seats from Bihar will also be up for grabs.
This will be Kumar’s first meeting with the Prime Minister since his JD(U) returned to the BJP-led NDA on January 28 this year after deserting the RJD-led alliance in Bihar.
A senior JD-U functionary said that Kumar, who is also the national president of his party, would also meet home minister Amit Shah and BJP president JP Nadda in New Delhi.
On Monday, deputy chief ministers Samrat Choudhary and Vijay Kumar Sinha, both from BJP, also called on the Prime Minister. They had gone to New Delhi Friday evening after portfolio allocation in the nine-member Bihar cabinet, which is awaiting expansion.
Coming back to the Rajya Sabha polls, the last date for filing nominations is February 15. The notification for the election is likely to be issued on Thursday.
As per the numbers in the Bihar Legislative Assembly, BJP and RJD will win two seats each and JD(U) one. No other party has the numbers to win the sixth seat on its own, although the RJD-led Grand Alliance has the numbers for it should there be a joint candidate.
Of the six seats falling vacant, two are with JD(U), held by former president Bashishth Narayan Singh and Aneel Hegde. Two are with RJD, held by Manoj Kumar Jha and Misa Bharti. One is with BJP (Sushil Kumar Modi) and one with Congress, held by its state unit president Akhilesh Prasad Singh.
However, the new arithmetic in the electoral college comprising legislators now gives two to BJP and one to JD(U).
In Bihar, the first preference votes of 35 legislators are required for a candidate to get elected to the Rajya Sabha.
BJP has 78 seats and the JD(U) 45. The NDA has support of 128 members in the assembly, but it would require 140 for four candidates.
The RJD alone has 79 votes in the assembly, which guarantees two seats.
The Grand Alliance together has 115 votes to easily sail through with its third candidate. It requires just 105. However, Congress with just 19 seats, needs support of alliance partners to retain its seat.
The biennial elections for 11 seats of Bihar Legislative Council is also likely in the next few months.
“Nitish Kumar is the CM and the JD(U) president. When senior leaders meet, discussions can revolve around a whole range of issues, including Bihar’s development agenda, prevailing political situation and the strategy to repeat the 2020 Bihar performance for the NDA,” said a senior JD(U) leader, who did not want to be quoted.
