Misa in, Ram to Lalu’s aid

Known for dynastic politics, RJD chief Lalu Prasad promoted his daughter Misa Bharti and made her a Rajya Sabha candidate. He nominated noted lawyer Ram Jethmalani as the second candidate of his party. 

Misa was defeated in the 2014 Lok Sabha election, but Lalu continued to prefer her to his wife Rabri Devi, an ex-CM. 

An accused in the fodder scam, the RJD chief needs an eminent lawyer to plead his case in higher courts. That could have been the reason for him to choose Jethmalani. 

Five MPs — K C Tyagi, Pawan Kumar Verma, Gulam Rasool, Ramchandra Prasad Singh and Sharad Yadav — are due to retire in July, and they were from JD-U. As per the voting arithmetic, BJP has one seat, while both JD-U and RJD have two seats each. Former JD-U president Sharad Yadav and Ramchandra Prasad Singh have already made the cut. The BJP has chosen its former state unit chief Gopal Narayan Singh, who is embroiled in 28 different cases related to mining. 

All five Rajya Sabha candidates from Bihar were declared elected unopposed as the time of withdrawal of name ended on June 3.

In Jharkhand, two seats are to be filled. The ruling BJP wants Union minister Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi elected. The party's second nominee, Mahesh Poddar, has served the party as its treasurer and has stayed away from politics. Poddar is an industrialist owning steel plants in Jharkhand.

Jitendra K Shrivastava in Patna