RJD may field Tej Pratap for MLC polls in Bihar, 17 seats up for grabs

Amid indications that the election commission (EC) may soon announce polls for 17 Legislative Council seats in Bihar, hectic lobbying has begun in both the ruling NDA and Opposition alliance.

Of the 17 seats, nine are from the Legislative Assembly quota and eight are from graduates’ and teachers’ constituencies.

For the nine Assembly quota seats, names of building construction minister Ashok Choudhary, former acting chairman of the Council Haroon Rashid, whose terms ended last month, are doing the rounds as JD(U) probables.

From the Opposition benches, RJD chief Lalu Prasad’s elder son Tej Pratap Yadav, a MLA from Mahua, could be sent to the Upper House, according to party insiders.

As per the numerical strength of the parties in the state assembly, the Janata Dal United, JD(U)-BJP combine can win five seats while Rashtriya Janata Dal(RJD) -Congress can win four. Party officials familiar with the developments said the RJD was expected to stake claim on three seats while leaving one for the Congress. In the ruling alliance, the JD(U) is expected to stake claim on three seats and leave two for the BJP.

The party functionaries quoted above said RJD’s top leadership wanted a “safe option” for Tej Pratap Yadav to insulate him from the uncertainty of re-election as MLA from Mahua in the upcoming assembly polls. In case Tej Pratap goes to the Upper House, he will be the third member from RJD’s first family to join the Council. His father Lalu Prasad was a member earlier and his mother Rabri Devi is a current member.

The RJD officials referenced above claimed that Tej Pratap has been staying out of controversies recently after being promised a bigger say in the party affairs.

State president of the RJD Jagdanand Singh, however, dismissed talks of Tej Pratap being one of the MLC nominees. “This is all baseless. No decision has been taken so far,” he said.

The NDA camp seems to have a problem of plenty.

“There are far too many aspirants in both JD(U) and BJP, with several former MLAs and MPs vying for a Council seat. It will be a difficult call for the JD(U) president and chief minister Nitish Kumar and BJP’s top leadership,” said a senior JD(U) leader, who didn’t want to be named.

The BJP could give a second term to Sanjay Mayunk , whose term as MLC from the Assembly quota ended last month. Others in the fray are former MP Janak Ram and Radha Mohan Sharma, whose terms as MLC ended.

“For graduates and teachers constituencies, the sitting MLCs would in all likelihood be given tickets,” said a senior BJP leader on condition of anonymity.

According to the BJP leader, IPRD minister Neeraj Kumar and Nawal Kishore Yadav are likely to be re-fielded from Patna graduates’ constituency and Patna teachers’ constituency respectively.

The four graduates’ seats are Patna, Darbhanga, Tirhut and Kosi, whereas four teachers’ constituencies are Patna, Saran, Tirhut and Darbhanga.

The Council polls were scheduled to be held in April but were deferred due to the Covid-induced lockdown.

According to inputs received from officials, the elections may be conducted by the end of this month or early July, when the monsoon session of the state legislature is also expected to be convened. A decision on the date of the election is likely to be taken next week, they said.