Patna, Mar 10 (PTI): RJD national working president Tejashwi Yadav has convened a meeting of party legislators and MLAs of other ‘Mahagathbandhan’ constituents on Tuesday to chalk out a strategy ahead of the Rajya Sabha polls in Bihar on March 16, a party leader said.
The meeting will be held in the afternoon at Yadav’s official residence in Patna, he said.
Six candidates — five from the ruling NDA and one from the opposition ‘Mahagathbandhan’ — are in the fray for five Rajya Sabha seats in Bihar.
The RJD currently holds two of the five Rajya Sabha seats in the state that will soon fall vacant.
In view of the RJD’s dismal performance in the 2025 assembly polls, when the party managed only 25 seats in the 243-member House, it chose to contest only one seat, dropping Prem Chand Gupta, a former Union minister and key aide of party supremo Lalu Prasad.
The RJD renominated businessman-turned-politician Amarendra Dhari Singh for the polls to the Upper House of Parliament.
Talking to PTI on Tuesday, RJD state unit spokesperson Mrityunjay Tiwary said, “A meeting of MLAs from all Mahagathbandhan alliance partners will be held at our leader Tejashwi ji’s official residence on Tuesday. The meeting has been called to chalk out a strategy to ensure victory for the RJD candidate in the Rajya Sabha polls.”
The NDA enjoys a brute majority in the assembly, though its tally of 202 in the 243-member House falls three short of the number needed to secure all five Rajya Sabha seats.
The RJD enjoys the backing of 10 other MLAs, all owing allegiance to the Mahagathbandhan, and hopes to make up for the deficit of six votes with the help of Hyderabad MP Asaduddin Owaisi’s AIMIM and former Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati’s BSP, though neither party has so far declared its support for any of the Rajya Sabha candidates.
To win a Rajya Sabha berth, a candidate needs the support of at least 41 MLAs in the 243-member Bihar assembly.
None of the six candidates, including Chief Minister and JD(U) candidate Nitish Kumar and BJP president Nitin Nabin, withdrew their nomination papers on Monday, necessitating voting for the first time in the state in more than a decade.
Monday was the last day for withdrawal of nomination papers.
Voting last took place for Rajya Sabha polls in Bihar in 2014, when JD(U) candidates diplomat-turned-politician Pavan Kumar Varma and Gulam Rasool Balyawi overcame cross-voting by party MLAs and defeated BJP-backed independents.
PTI PKD B