The stage is set in Bihar for an intense political battle between Janata Dal-United (JDU) along with Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) which is hoping to take revenge. Though dates are yet to be announced, political activities have started gathering steam. A miniature version of conflict will be also witnessed in Rajya Sabha (RS) when Harivansh of the JD-U, backed by NDA will take on Manoj Jha of the RJD, backed by other Opposition parties for the post of Deputy Chairman.
Both candidates have cut their teeth in Bihar politics and follow a socialist ideology. Both leaders also carry their own identities separate from their parties. In such a situation, it’ll be interesting to see which political party comes out in support of which candidate. The election for the post of Rajya Sabha Deputy Chairman is expected on September 14, the first day of the monsoon session. In this case, the last date for filing nomination would be September 11. On behalf of NDA, JD-U MP Harivansh filed his nomination on Wednesday, while Manoj Jha filed his nomina tion on Friday. Harivansh has been a journalist and understands the politics of Bihar. At the same time, Manoj Jha has been a professor in the social work department of Delhi University. He is a vocal voice of the RJD as a Rajya Sabha MP and is a party spokesperson as well.
There has been an appeal to form a general consensus in the name of Harivansh, but the opposition seems to be in no mood to give in. That is why the opposition has expressed its intention by pitting Manoj Jha. On the very first day of the Parliament session, the opposition wanted to send a political message of solidarity in the House as well as in Bihar. Jha also has the advantage of belonging to the Brahmin community of Mithilanchal area of Bihar, where Maithil Brahmin voters are in a decision-making role.
The parties which are backing Harivansh are BJP (87), AIADMK (9), JDU (5), Akali Dal (3), AJP (1), BPF (1), RPI (1), NPF (1), MNF (1), NPP (1) and government nominated members (7). This takes the total to 116 supporting members but in the 245-member house, Harivansh needs 123 votes. The BJP will hope to mobilize the support of TRS (7), YSRCP (6) and the (9) members of BJD, AIADMK. JDU chief Nitish Kumar has also called upon the support of BNJD.
On the other hand, parties in the favour of Manoj Jha are Congress (40), Left parties (6), DMK (7), RJD (5), Shiv Sena (3), NCP (4), Muslim League (1), JDS (1), JMM (1), Kerala Congress (1) and TDP (1). Apart from this, SP (8), TMC (13), PDP (2) and National Conference (1) are also in favour of this coalition. Opposition parties are trying to push the case of Manoj Jha with parties that are not formally members of the NDA but have on many occasions stood in favour of the ruling coalition. However, even after joining with these political parties, Manoj Jha seems to have the support of only 100 members. Jha would be eyeing the support of BSP (4) and Aam Aadmi Party MPs. During the last election held in August 2018, Harivansh had defeated Congress leader B.K. Hariprasad by 125 votes against 105 of the opposition.