Turncoats make a beeline before Lalu for Rajya Sabha berth

Leaders of all hues, including some former Union Ministers and ex-MPs from the Opposition camp, are making a beeline outside the Rajendra Institute of Medical Sciences (RIMS) in Ranchi. The official explanation is they have come to enquire about the health condition of RJD chief Lalu Prasad, who has been recuperating in the paying ward of the hospital for more than a year. But more than the formal health enquiry, these leaders are marking their attendance before Lalu in the wake of biennial Rajya Sabha elections, slated for March 26.

Five Rajya Sabha berths are up for grabs in Bihar while two in Jharkhand after the present RS members from these two States retire in April. The election to the Upper House is slated for March 26, after a formal notification will be issued by the Election Commission in this regard on March 6.

Since RJD, which is the largest party in the Bihar Assembly (with 81 MLAs in its kitty), all eyes are on who Lalu ‘nominates’ for the Upper House. Former Union Ministers Shatrughan Sinha and Sharad Yadav have already met Lalu in RIMS but parried queries related to RS poll. “I have come to meet and greet my old family friend Lalu ji,” said Shatrughan, adding that he had come to Jharkhand for Assembly poll campaign in December 2019 too, but could not meet the RJD chief then.

Incidentally, Shatrughan is in Congress while Sharad Yadav, after his expulsion from JD (U), now heads the fledgling Loktantrik Janata Dal (LJD).

Meanwhile, Lalu’s Man Friday, Prem Chand Gupta, who was Union Minister in UPA-I, is also retiring as Rajya Sabha member from Jharkhand. Sources in the Opposition camp said Gupta could be made Rajya Sabha member from Bihar this time. One needs 41 first preferential votes of Bihar MLAs to be elected to the Upper House. The RJD, with the support of Congress, could easily send two members to the Rajya Sabha.

The Congress, with 26 MLAs, also wants its share of pie. It’s in this context that Shatrughan Sinha, who lost the 2019 Lok Sabha election (from his home turf Patna Sahib) to the BJP leader Ravi Shankar Prasad, wants to be ‘rehabilitated’ as Rajya Sabha MP. But so are the other leaders from the RJD too. Former MPs Shivanand Tiwari and Jagadanand Singh, besides former Union Rural Development Minister Raghuvansh Prasad Singh too are in the race for Rajya Sabha.

“The top RJD leadership will decide who will be nominated for the Rajya Sabha election,” said party spokesperson Chitaranjan Gagan.