Will BJP retain its Rajya Sabha seat from Jharkhand?

With the biennial elections to the Rajya Sabha slated for Feb 7, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is finding its prospects of retaining its lone seat from Jharkhand difficult.

If the numbers are taken into consideration, the BJP will find it difficult to hold onto its seat. In the 82-member assembly, the BJP has only 18 legislators while the ruling alliance of the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM), the Congress and the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) has 45 members.

The BJP is yet to start its poll exercise. "We have not decided anything on the issue," Jharkhand BJP president Rabindra Rai told IANS Wednesday.

The ruling alliance is already putting in efforts to win both the Rajya Sabha seats from Jharkhand.

Jharkhand Congress president Sukhdeo Bhagat along with Energy Minister and Congress leader Rajendra Singh met Chief Minister Hemant Soren, son of JMM chief Shibu Soren, Tuesday night and held talks regarding the election to the upper house.

"Both the Congress and the JMM will file their candidates and we will try to win both seats. The UPA (United Progressive Alliance) will win both Rajya Sabha seats in Jharkhand," a Congress leader told IANS.

The polling for the two Rajya Sabha seats in the state is to take place Feb 7.

The seats will fall vacant as the terms of BJP's Rajya Sabha member J.P.N. Singh and Independent member Parimal Nathwani are ending. J.P.N. Singh is the only BJP MP from Jharkhand.

Of the six Rajya Sabha seats in the state, the Congress has two while the BJP, the JMM and the Trinamool Congress (TMC) have one each besides an Independent member. Though K.D. Singh won on a JMM ticket, he later joined the TMC.