Kamal Ghorui
NEW DELHI: BJP national president Nitin Nabin is set to make his debut in Rajya Sabha from his home state Bihar, with the party naming him as one of its nine candidates for the polls to 37 seats across 10 states in a list which has several first-timers but with considerable organisational experience.While BJP named both candidates from its quota in Bihar, Shivesh Kumar – a Dalit who had lost in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections from Sasaram – being the second nominee, suspense is building over the choice of JDU, which is yet to officially declare any name amid indications that it will repeat Union minister Ram Nath Thakur but may drop RS deputy chairperson Harivansh.
A strong section within JDU is rooting for Nishant Kumar, the son of party president and CM Nitish Kumar whose nearly five-decade-long public life has been marked by opposition to dynastic politics but is facing pressure to bow to demand of party’s workers amid concerns in some quarters over his own health.Both Ram Nath Thakur, the son of noted socialist leader Karpoori Thakur, and Harivansh, a former journalist, have been in RS for two consecutive terms.Upendra Kushwaha is set to be repeated as an NDA candidate for the fifth seat, for which opposition parties may force a contest despite the confidence in the governing alliance of its win on the basis of its perceived numerical advantage due to lack of unity among its rivals.Nabin, an upper caste Kayastha and fifth-term MLA from Bihar, will be entering Parliament for the first time, a move that will cement his presence in national politics.Meanwhile, BJP has fielded its two Assam MLAs – Terash Gowalla and Jogen Mohan – from the poll-bound state, former LS MP Sanjay Bhatia from Haryana and its Odisha president Manmohan Samal and its ex-West Bengal president Rahul Sinha from West Bengal. Bhatia had made way from Karnal for former CM Manohar Lal Khattar, who is now a Union minister.Outgoing MP from Odisha Sujeet Kumar, who had quit BJD following the assembly elections in the state, is the only candidate BJP has repeated in this list. It is yet to release its list for Maharashtra, where seven seats are falling vacant and the governing alliance is set to bag six. Laxmi Verma, a Kurmi and someone who has worked her way up the party’s ranks in Chhattisgarh, is the lone woman candidate on the BJP’s list.BJP functionaries said the list is full of seasoned organisational hands emphasising the leadership’s decision to groom a new crop of members for key positions.
