Rajya Sabha: Politics played a crucial role while selecting candidates

Much hue and cry has been made over the selection of the candidates and offering support to a few for the ongoing program of biennial election to Rajya Sabha (RS) from Maharashtra. 

But past incidents say that the party high commands have some different calculations in their mind while deciding on the candidates. The tradition of fielding candidates from outside the state is not a new phenomenon. Even this time it’s not just the Congress that decided to shift Chidambaram to Tamil Nadu from Maharashtra as the RS candidate and introduce Imran Pratapgarhi who hails from Uttar Pradesh (UP). The BJP has also sent V. Muraleedharan, a native of Kerala, to the RS from Maharashtra in 2018.

Instead of nominating Imran Pratapgarhi, Congress should have given a chance to one of the local leaders from Maharashtra, which is now being discussed. 

The NCP in the last two decades fielded Tariq Anwar, P. C. Alexander, and D. P. Tripathi from Maharashtra though they belonged to other states. Most of the political parties have considered their interests in national politics most of the time while deciding the RS nominations. 

Why was Pratapgarhi fielded from Maharashtra and not from Rajasthan?

Imran Pratapgarhi, in whose home state the Congress lost miserably in the recently held state assembly elections. The party is in utterly bad shape and must be finding it difficult to start afresh. It seems that Congress is left with no option but to make attempts to woo minorities and for that, the party might have decided to introduce Partapgarhi, also the national chief of the party’s minority cell. 

Party old guard Mukul Wasnik, known as a Gandhi family loyalist, is being sent to the upper house from Rajasthan. Many say that he could have been given the opportunity from Maharashtra instead and Pratapgarhi from Rajasthan. But things are not as smooth as speculated. Considering the politics of Rajasthan, none of the 25 MPs (24 from BJP and 1 from Rashtriya Loktantrik Party) elected to the Lok Sabha (LS) are from the Muslim community. Though Congress is in power in this state, pro-Hindu ideology is predominant. Besides, the state assembly elections are due next year. Now, if a person from the Muslim community is fielded from this state, the BJP may make it a political issue. Sensing the political demography of the state, Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot might have preferred Wasnik over Pratapgarhi.

The atmosphere in Maharashtra is different

Pratapgarhi may have been pitted from Maharashtra which has a progressive face with relatively soft religious overtones. Here, the BJP is not so strong compared to UP or Rajasthan, thanks to Shiv Sena’s strong presence. Congress may ask Pratapgarhi to mobilize north Indian voters during the upcoming elections to Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC). North Indian votes play a crucial role in Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR) which comprise Mumbai, Thane, and Palghar. 

Patel, the stalwart of the NCP

The NCP decided to re-nominate Praful Patel, a close confidante of the party chief Sharad Pawar besides his proximity to the corporate world of Mumbai. Since the formation of the Mahavikas Aghadi government in Maharashtra in 2019, his role in the state’s politics is minimal compared to the days of the Congress-NCP government between 1999 to 2014. 

BJP fielded a loyalist, an ex-Shiv Sainik, and an ex-NCP man

The BJP has fielded Piyush Goyal as expected, who was the party’s treasurer and confidant of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah. His family’s loyalty to the party is unwavering. He is an important member of the BJP Parivar and an important facet of the BJP in the corporate world. He plays a crucial role in the decision-making process of the party.

Apart from Goyal the BJP has fielded Dr. Anil Bonde, an OBC face and ex-minister who was once district chief of the Shiv Sena. His candidature assumes significance in the sense that BJP may have certain plans for the Amravati district which has 8 assembly constituencies divided between the Amravati and Wardha Lok Sabha constituencies. The party may field Navneet Rana, an Independent MP, as the official candidate in the next LS elections. 

The Sena accepted the BJP’s political challenge

Seeing how Sanjay Raut defends the Shiv Sena in media as well as in Delhi politics, his nomination was much expected. While deciding on the second candidature, the Shiv Sena has tried to respond in the best possible manner to the BJP’s political gameplan through outgoing RS member Sambhaji Raje. 

While offering its extra votes to Sambhaji Raje, the BJP has sought to kill two birds with one stone. First, the party wanted to win over the member of the royal family of Kolhapur who has become a known face during the agitation over the issue of the Maratha reservation. Secondly, the BJP wanted to show how it played smartly by deciding candidate number two for the ruling side.  

But, Sambhaji Raje, despite being nominated by the Narendra Modi-led government as the President’s nominee, rarely toed the BJP’s line be it for the Maratha reservation or the hardline Hindutva ideology. 

The issue of the self-respect

As soon as it emerged that Sambhaji Raje’s candidature was a political gameplan of the BJP, the Shiv Sena fielded its Kolhapur district chief Sanjay Pawar. The candidature of a man from Kolhapur became necessary since the area is known for political awareness and progressive approach. The citizens of Kolhapur district never compromise over the issue of self-respect.

Back in 2009, when the then NCP MP Sadashivrao Mandlik revolted against the party and contested the as an independent by raising the issue of Kolhapur’s pride, Sambhaji Raje had to taste a defeat, who was the NCP candidate.

Both BJP and Shiv Sena are fighting the war of supremacy to control the politics of the Kolhapur district. The Shiv Sena has alleged that the party lost 5 assembly constituencies from Kolhapur due to the BJP’s backstabbing during the 2019 Assembly elections. The district has 10 assembly constituencies and two Lok Sabha constituencies. In 2014 the Sena candidates had won 6 constituencies. The BJP is making all-out efforts to minimize the base of the Shiv Sena from Kolhapur and supporting Sambhaji Raje’s candidature was yet another attempt in that direction. 

Mahadik’s candidature to checkmate Sena’s Pawar

BJP has decided to field Dhananjay Mahadik as its third candidate for the RS election to counter Sena’s second candidate Sanjay Pawar. Mahadik has represented Kolhapur in Lok Sabha from 2014 to 2019 as the NCP MP. 

Above all, the Rajya Sabha elections are an open game. Each voter MLA has to show his ballot paper to the party representative or else he can invite a disciplinary action by the party. After voting for the official candidates of the party, the real politics begins when second preference votes are cast for. 

It will be interesting to see how the BJP and the Sena ask its voter MLAs to cast second preference votes that will be counted to declare the winner from Mahadik and Pawar. Here, the role of smaller parties and independent MLAs will become crucial. 

Parliamentary Affairs Minister and action by ED

The role of the parliamentary affairs minister will be crucial during the RS polls to ensure the win of the four candidates of the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government. He is the chief whip of the ruling party. Accordingly, it should not be seen as a mere coincidence that Shiv Sena Minister Anil Parab, who is heading the parliamentary affairs department, is facing an inquiry by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) at the time of the crucial polls. Speculations are also made that Parab may face an arrest and, in that case, it will be a severe jolt to the ruling three-party government. This is an important point to take into account for the Rajya Sabha elections!