It is unofficial though, BJP’s Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi and JMM’s Basant Soren are all set to enter the House of Elders after the biennial elections are held on Saturday.
Both the camps regardless of tug of war continued till last minute on late Friday night, are looking confident to win one seat each.
The situation became even clearer when some unsure independents placed their cards on the table hours before the Saturday poll. On the one hand, where jailed MlA from Kolibera Ainos Ekka declared his support for the ruling coalition, the Opposition camp gained in the form of CPI-Ml Raj Kumar Yadav who breaking the precedence has decided to take part in the voting this time. The Soren scion Basant Soren heaved sigh of relief also from BSP’s Kushwaha Shivpujan Mehta who made it clear that he would not vote for the NDA.
Calculations suggest that taking along 19 MlA of JMM, seven of the Congress and two of the JVM besides, at least two in the form of Raj Kumar Yadav and Marxist-Coordination Arup Chatterjee the number in Opposition favour set to reach 30; two more than the required.
This was also affirmed by the JMM poll managers. “We have our calculation done. As of now we are sure to get votes of 30 legislators in our favour,” said party general secretary Supriyo Bhattacharya after JMM legislative body meeting held at Shibu Soren’s residence.
On the other hand, the BJP-headed NDA that has fielded Mahesh Poddar in addition to Naqvi managed to get just three additional votes in its favour over and above its actual strength in House. With Jail bird Ainos Ekka, currently recuperating at RIMS, declaring his support and Geeta Koda and Bhanu Pratap Shahi already in the party’s fold, it could touch only 50, i.e. six votes short of the number needed to pocket both the seats in the Upper House.
“The game is still wide open. There may be some kind of resentment among the JMM legislators since the party has gone for dynastic politics. These are some factors which prompted us to go for the second seat on offer,” said a senior BJP leader who is managing floor for the party in the election coming out of yet another meeting of NDA legislators.
The MlAs dined on Thursday evening at Amar Kumar Bauri’s residence, followed by the meeting over lunch courtesy, Minister Randheer Singh while yet another get together is in store for Saturday probably over breakfast at Chief Minister Raghubar Das’ shelter at HEC before departing for vote.
The unease nevertheless prevailed throughout the day penultimate to the poll. Congress, whose nothing personal is at the stake, is rallying completely behind the JMM to ensure a defeat of the BJP. AICC members and known strategist Ajay Makan arrived here on Friday. He along with Tara Chand Bhagora, Subodh Kant Sahay, PCC chief Sukhdeo Bhagat and host of Congress legislators held a closed door meeting also attended by Hemant Soren.
“The BJP is misusing power to win the second seat which is nowhere. Naqvi is a seasoned player of horse trading. But all our Opposition members are intact and we are sure of winning,” said Makan. Also, a delegation of Congress complained to the Election Commission about ‘institutional intimidation’ citing the cases filed against its MlAs Devender Singh and Nirmala Devi.