Patna, March 3 (IANS) After the announcement of three NDA candidates for the upcoming Rajya Sabha elections in Bihar, state BJP president Sanjay Saraogi expressed confidence that the alliance will secure victory on all five seats.
The BJP central leadership on Tuesday announced Nitin Nabin and Shivesh Kumar Ram as party candidates.
Meanwhile, the Rashtriya Lok Morcha (RLM) named its national president Upendra Kushwaha as an NDA-supported candidate.
Speaking exclusively to IANS, Saraogi said that the NDA would contest jointly on all five seats.
“The BJP will contest two seats, JD(U) will contest two seats, and RLM will contest one seat,” he stated.
“As a BJP candidate, our national president Nitin Nabin will contest the election, and the second candidate will be Shivesh Kumar, who contested the 2024 Lok Sabha election from the Sasaram (SC) seat. Shivesh Kumar will contest as the fifth candidate of the NDA,” Saraogi told IANS.
He also congratulated the BJP central leadership for giving the opportunity to Nitin Nabin to contest the Rajya Sabha election from Bihar.
The Janata Dal (United) (JD(U)) has not yet announced its candidates for the Rajya Sabha polls.
Reacting to Congress leader Sonia Gandhi demanding a debate in Parliament on the Israel–USA and Iran war, Saraogi said, “Whatever Sonia Gandhi says is her statement, but I know that the decisions taken by Prime Minister Narendra Modi are in the interest of the country.”
The outgoing Rajya Sabha members from Bihar include Ramnath Thakur, Harivansh Narayan Singh, Upendra Kushwaha, Prem Chand Gupta, and Amarendra Dhari Singh.
According to the current strength of the Bihar Assembly, the NDA has 202 MLAs, while 41 votes are required to win one Rajya Sabha seat.
To secure all five seats, 205 votes would be needed, making the fifth seat crucial and potentially contentious.
The opposition Grand Alliance currently has 35 MLAs. If it secures support from five AIMIM MLAs and one Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) MLA, it could be in a position to win one seat.
With nomination filings underway, political activity in Bihar is expected to intensify in the coming days as alliances finalise their strategies.
--IANS
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