RJD circles are agog with reports that the names of party supremo lalu Prasad’s eldest daughter Misa Bharti and country’s senior most lawyer Ram Jethmalani for the Rajya Sabha have been finalised. The party chief, who had been authorised to chose the names to fill the vacancies in the Upper House.
RJD’s ally JD(U) has already declared its two candidates Sharad Yadav and Ram Chandra Prasad Singh. The fifth seat will go the BJP but the party is yet to announce its nominee.
The last date for filing nomination is May 31 and polling, if necessary, is scheduled on June 11. Five Rajya Sabha seats have fallen vacant from Bihar and all of them had been held by the JD(U). But as per the numerical strength of the party it can win only two seats and its ally RJD another two while BJP will gain with one seat.
Former Deputy Chief Minister Sushil Kumar Modi is on the top of the list of probables from the BJP. The party is expected to announce its nominee on Monday.
Earlier, lalu’s wife and former CM Rabri Devi was supposed to be elevated to the Rajya Sabha. But after a second thought, lalu decided to keep her in Patna to look after their children, including two sons, who are Ministers in the Nitish Government. Rabri is a member of the legislative Council.
Misa had contested 2014 lok Sabha polls but lost to BJP’s Ram Kripal Yadav, a former aide of lalu from Patliputra constituency. An outspoken Misa had aggressively campaigned for the RJD candidates in the lok Sabha polls but not only she but her mother too lost from Saran.
For the two seats of RJD quota there had been many aspirants. Prominent among them were former Union Minister Raghubansh Prasad Singh and three other former MPs Jagdanand Singh, Prabhunath Singh and Ejaz Ali. While the three Singhs are maintaining silence, Ali attacked lalu for picking up his daughter and a lawyer. He said lalu preferred Jethmalani in hope to get out of the web of court cases but there was no guarantee that the eminent lawyer would help him out. He accused lalu of ignoring the loyalists and party workers.
RJD sources said that Congress leadership had lobbied that lalu should nominate its leader Kapil Sibal. But the party was not very keen to make him a candidate since he is a known Congress leader. However, in 1998 lalu did send Sibal to the Rajya Sabha from Bihar.
Misa, a doctor and mother of two, lobbied hard that she too must be brought in active politics as her parents served as CMs and both brothers are Ministers.