Mumbai, February 1: Renowned economist and former Governor of Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Raghuram Rajan on Tuesday, January 31, met former Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray and his family in Mumbai. Raghuram Rajan's meeting with Thackeray family took place amidst speculations that he could be a Congress or Maharashtra Vikas Aghadi (MVA) candidate for Rajya Sabha elections from Maharashtra.
As per the Election Commission of India, voting to fill six Rajya Sabha seats from Maharashtra will be held on February 27. The terms of current Rajya Sabha members from Maharashtra - Prakash Javadekar, Anil Desai, Kumar Ketkar, V Muralidharan, Narayan Rane and Vandana Chavan - are set to expire on April 2. Political circles in Maharashtra are abuzz with rumours that Rajan could be nominated as a Congress candidate or a joint candidate of the MVA, a coalition of Congress, NCP (Sharad Pawar faction) and Shiv Sena (UBT).
Number Game
In the 288-member House, the BJP has 116 MLAs. BJP's ally CM Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena has support of 42 legislators. Deputy CM Ajit Pawar-led NCP faction has 44 MLAs in its fold. Among the MVA, Congress has 44 MLAs, Shiv Sena (UBT) 16 and NCP (Sharad Pawar faction) 9.
A candidate might require a minimum 42 votes of members of the assembly. Accordingly, the BJP is sure to win three out of six Rajya Sabha seats from Maharashtra. Eknath Shinde's Shiv Sena and Ajit Pawar's NCP can claim one seat each. The MVA together can win just one seat. Shiv Sena (UBT) and NCP (Sharad Pawar faction) can extend support to a Congress candidate for the sixth seat.
Speculations On Candidates
While Rajan is rumoured to be Congress or MVA candidate, Milind Deora could be fielded by Shinde's Shiv Sena. Deora recently quit the Congress and joined Shinde camp. The BJP may drop Muralidharan and Javadekar, and renominate Rane. BJP leader Vinod Tawde's name is also doing the rounds. Chandrakant Handore, the Dalit face of the Congress, is also reportedly being considered by the grand old party.
