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AIMIM legislators meet Tejashwi Yadav, boot RJD chances for 1 Rajya Sabha seat
AIMIM Bihar unit chief Akhtarul Iman has invited the LoP Tejashwi Yadav at the Iftar hosted by the party on March 15, which is likely to be attended by AIMIM chief Asaddudin Owaisi, and is only a day before March 16 polling for the Rajya Sabha elections
PATNA: Rashtriya Janata Dal’s (RJD) bid to wrest one Rajya Sabha (RS) seat for its candidate Amarendra Dhari Singh received a boost on Wednesday after legislators of the All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) led by its state president Akhtarul Iman held a meeting with leader of the opposition (LoP) in assembly Tejashwi Prasad Yadav at the latter’s residence on Wednesday.
After the meeting, which lasted for more than half an hour, both Iman and Yadav, described the meeting ‘positive’. Iman also invited the LoP at the Iftar hosted by the party on March 15, which is likely to be attended by AIMIM chief Asaddudin Owaisi.
The Iftar party assumes considerable significance, as it’s being held a day before the crucial voting for the RS polls, in which six candidates, including chief minister Nitish Kumar, Bharatiya Janata Party president Nitin Nabin, Union minister Ram Nath Thakur, former BJP MLA leader Shivesh Kumar, Rashtriya Lok Morcha (RLM) chief Upendra Kushwaha and RJD’s AD Singh are pitted against five seats.
After the meeting with AIMIM leader Yadav exuded confidence of wresting one seat for its nominee. The RJD candidates require the votes of five AIMIM MLAs and another of the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) legislators, apart from the Mahagathbandhan’s (MGB) all 35 MLAs. With the RJD’s effort to win over the AIMIM’s legislators heading in the ‘positive’ direction, the prospect of Upendra Kushwaha, who is the fifth nominee of National Democratic Alliance (NDA) is getting blurred. The NDA has votes of 38 MLAs in spare for Kushwaha and it required three more votes from the opposition leaders.
The meeting between Yadav and Iman also holds significance as both RJD and AIMIM have never shown any friendly approach towards each other after the assembly elections. During the elections, both parties accused each other of vote-splitting in Seemanchal and mutual distrust over representing minority interests. Political observers view the meeting as a positive step towards broader cooperation between the two parties, which might go beyond the RS elections. Neither camp has revealed specifics of the conversation, but the optics are clear: smaller players like AIMIM could prove kingmakers in this high-stakes arithmetic. As Patna buzzes with speculation, the next few days — especially around the Iftar on March 15 — may clarify whether old rivals can find common cause to deny the NDA a clean sweep.
A day ago, Tejashwi Prasad Yadav convened a meeting of MGB legislators at his residence. However, five MLAs, three from the Congress and two from the RJD did not turn up. RJD spokesman Mrityunjay Tiwari had dismissed their absence as a non-issue, saying that they (absence MLAs) had talks with the LoP and all promised their support for the party’s RS nominee. It’s also learnt that the Yadav has reached out to BSP chief Mayawati and its lone legislator in Bihar Satish Kumar Singh to solicit the party’s support in favour of the opposition’s nominee.
