BJP gains muscle in Rajya Sabha; hopes to pass GST Bill

The gain of three extra in the total 12 seats for the BJP and its allies in the just-concluded Rajya Sabha elections has buoyed spirits among the ruling party brass gathered here for its strategy consultations in the party’s two-day national executive meeting. Coming close on the back of the party’s victory in the Assam Assembly elections, the addition in the Rajya Sabha numbers has also strengthened the BJP’s resolve to isolate the Congress politically and make a strong push for the passage of the Constitutional amendment pertaining to the Goods and Services Tax (GST).

Speaking anonymously, a top BJP leader told BusinessLine that it was the Congress that forced a contest in Jharkhand, Haryana and Rajasthan and the BJP which ended up as the victorious party. “They are the ones who forced a contest. And we emerged as the winning party. Ab ham Congress ko chain se jeene nahin denge (We will not let the Congress have a moment of peace.), the BJP leader said.

The “chain se nahin jeene senge” strategy has played out with a rattled Congress crying “conspiracy” and demanding that elections be countermanded in Haryana where as many as 14 votes were declared invalid because of the “wrong ink” having been used for voting. “ Agar ek pen se 12 voting hui hain to shadyantra racha gaya hai aur election machinery bhi involved hai… Iski jaanch ho. Election petition karna chahiye to 12 ghante main pata chal jayega ” (If one pen has been used to cast 12 votes, then it means there has been a conspiracy… There should be an election petition to this effect and an enquiry can expose the conspiracy in just 12 hours),” tweeted former Haryana Chief Minister Bhupendra Singh Hooda whose own vote was declared invalid.

BJP-backed media tycoon Subhash Chandra has won from Haryana along with the party’s official candidate Birendra Singh. Simultaneously, the Congress is accusing the Jharkhand’s BJP government of intimidating three of its MLAs with arrest warrants to prevent them from voting. In Rajasthan too, the Congress-backed Kamal Morarka lost and the BJP won a fourth seat from the Atate.

Altogether, the Congress won six seats in the Rajya Sabha polls on Saturday and the BJP-led alliance 12 in the biennial elections that concluded on Saturday. The other major gains were made by the Samadwadi Party which won seven seats in Uttar Pradesh. Of the total 58 seats that fell vacant in the Upper House this summer, the NDA has now won 23, a total gain of 12 seats. The Congress, which held 15 of these seats, now has nine –a loss of six seats.

The stage is now set for the monsoon session of parliament for which the BJP is assiduously cultivating regional players so that the Congress is isolated. For instance, it was not just the Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Finance Minister Arun Jaitley who congratulated Mamata Banerjee and J Jayalalithaa for their election victories recently. Telecom Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad too rang up the winners to offer his “heartiest congratulations” and got a “promise for co-operation” from Mamata Banerjee. The AIADMK supremo, however, continues to oppose the GST bill.

“Let the Congress issue a whip to get its MPs to vote against the GST. Time has come for us now to call their bluff on this issue,” said a top Minister.

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