As Bihar braces for high-stakes Rajya Sabha bypolls on March 16, Union Minister Jitan Ram Manjhi is turning up the volume on a long-pending promise from the BJP. The HAM supremo wants one seat locked in, citing explicit commitments from the 2024 Lok Sabha campaign trail.
In a pointed media interaction in Gaya, Manjhi laid bare the deal: BJP brass pledged HAM two Lower House seats and one Upper House berth. His party clinched the solitary Lok Sabha contest handed to them, bolstering NDA’s victory. But the Rajya Sabha piece of the bargain? Still pending.
‘It’s not a demand; it’s what was agreed upon. Our party merits this one seat,’ the 2015 party founder stated firmly.
Spotlight falls on five retiring Rajya Sabha members from Bihar: JD(U)’s Harivansh and Ram Nath Thakur, RJD duo Prem Chand Gupta and Amarendra Dhari Singh, plus Upendra Kushwaha of RLJM, elevated via BJP in 2025.
NDA eyes retaining three amid their assembly majority. Key dates: file by March 5, check March 6, withdraw till March 9, poll March 16.
Silence reigns on NDA nominees so far. The opposition Mahagathbandhan, with RJD at the helm and 35 MLAs total (including Congress and Left allies), falls short by six of the victory threshold. They’re whispering deals with AIMIM and BSP for a lifeline on one seat.
Manjhi’s gambit underscores the delicate balance of coalition politics in Bihar, where small parties wield outsized influence in parliamentary arithmetic.