Rajya Sabha polls: Political collaboration against NDA faces tough test in Bihar, Odisha

NEW DELHI: As the nomination process for the Lok Sabha elections concluded in 10 states on Thursday, initiatives for new political alliances, including a rare tie-up between the Bharatiya Janata Party and the Congress in Odisha and the unity of the BJP’s rivals in Bihar, will face a severe test, while developments in Maharashtra suggest that attempts to merge the two NCP factions have come to nothing.While candidates in most states will be elected unopposed, both Bihar and Odisha will see fierce battles on March 16.The RJD’s decision to renominate outgoing MP and businessman AD Singh has forced a contest for one of the five seats in Bihar. He can even achieve this if all rivals of the BJP, including 5 AIMIM MLAs and the lone BSP MLA, unite with the RJD-Congress-Left.However, confidentiality agreement After allocating the necessary 41 votes to secure four seats, the camp will be left with 38 votes to fight for the fifth seat. The camp is optimistic about its prospects, arguing that competition will ultimately only expose divisions within the opposition and even force some to defect.Unity of all opposition parties would fetch 41 votes for Singh, but AIMIM is yet to clarify its position. The alliance put forward a joint proposal in last year’s polls but was snubbed by the RJD-led alliance.Odisha is another state where elections are likely to take place, with the political atmosphere further heating up for the BJP after the Congress decided to back the BJD’s choice of eminent doctor Datteswar Hota. The BJP later announced its support for former Union minister Dilip Ray, a well-connected hotelier, who is contesting as an independent candidate.The BJP has been sworn enemies for decades, but its meteoric rise in the state has brought the party and the Congress together. Both parties could bring together 32 provincial councilors to ensure Hotan wins with the support of 30 councilors.However, incidents of dissatisfaction within the two parties have made the situation even more confusing. The BJP has a history of defeating its opponents in the hotly contested RS seat and its decision to back Rai was driven by its instinct to exploit their internal divisions to engineer surprises. With all three MVA parties backing Sharad Pawar’s renomination, the only one among the seven seats they can win, claims by his supporters about an “imminent merger” between the two NCP factions should be given pause.Signing a reversal from his public “I’ve had enough” stance, a senior Sena UBT official said they were told the chances of the two factions coming together was slim as the group headed by Ajit Pawar’s wife Sunetra Pawar had never been enthusiastic about Sharad Pawar’s desire for a second term in the RS.Ajit Pawar’s son Parth Pawar will be elected unopposed and will contest against his great uncle as an NDA member.In the elections to 37 Lok Sabha seats, the BJP-led NDA continues to expand its social alliance by reaching out to different sections of society, as evidenced by the nominees from Maharashtra. The BJP has backed Dalit Ramdas Athawale, Maya Chintaman Inwat tribal women, Maratha state general secretaries Vinod Tawde and Ramrao Wadkute, and OBC candidates from the Dhangar community. Its ally Shiv Sena has also chosen a Dalit woman, Jyoti Waghmare.