Patna: Indicating a turf war with its
NDA ally JD(U), the BJP today staked its claim on three of the
six Rajya Sabha seats going for biennial polls on March 30.
"We would like to contest three of the six Rajya Sabha
seats from Bihar and our leadership will take up the demand
with the JD(U) during seat sharing talks," BJP Bihar president
C P Thakur said after the state election committee meeting.
Thakur exuded confidence that the leadership of the
two allies will amicably work out the seat sharing agreement
for the six Rajya Sabha and 11 Legislative Council seats going
for the biennial polls on March 30.
JD(U) state president Vashistha Narayan Singh,
however, described BJP's demand for three Rajya Sabha seats as
premature and said the final decision on this would be decided
at the meeting of the NDA leadership.
The BJP, with its 91 members in the assembly, can win
two Rajya Sabha seats on its own, while the JD(U) having 118
members can win three Rajya Sabha seats on its own.
With a candidate requiring a minimum of 35 votes for
victory, the two NDA constituents would require to transfer
their surplus votes to whosoever among them contests on the
sixth seat.
The polls for the Rajya Sabha seats will take place to
fill the vacancies upon retirement of Ali Anwar Ansari, Anil
Sahni and Mahendra Prasad (all JD-U), Ravi Shankar Prasad
(BJP) and Jabir Husain and Rajniti Prasad (both RJD).
The term of all these six retiring Rajya Sabha members
comes to an end on April 2.
PTI
First Published: Sunday, March 11, 2012, 21:29