In Rajya Sabha, why YSRCP, BJD may still matter to BJP
Andhra Pradesh’s YSR Congress Party (YSRCP) and Odisha’s Biju Janata Dal (BJD) that were routed in the recently concluded Lok Sabha and Assembly elections will still have some say when it comes to legislation because of their strength in the Rajya Sabha.
The YSRCP, which was ousted by the Telugu Desam Party (TDP), has 11 Rajya Sabha MPs while the BJD, which lost to the BJP in Odisha, has nine MPs in the Upper House of Parliament. At present, there are 117 NDA MPs, 80 INDIA bloc MPs, and 33 others in the 245-member Rajya Sabha. There are 10 vacancies for elected members and five for nominated members. Of the 10 elected-member vacancies, the election date for which has yet to be announced, the BJP held seven, the Congress two, and the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) one. The BJP at present has the strength to win at least six of these seats. In such a scenario, the NDA will not require support from others to pass legislation but support from the YSRCP and BJD will put it in a comfortable position.
While the BJD has not yet spoken about its Rajya Sabha strategy — over the years, the party has mostly been aligned with the BJP in Parliament — the YSRCP has said it will extend “issue-based” support to the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government. Last week, at a press conference in Delhi, YSRCP leader V Vijayasai Reddy asked the Union government to take stock of “poll-related violence” in Andhra Pradesh and said, “The NDA will need our numbers to pass bills in the Rajya Sabha.”
The YSRCP has written to President Droupadi Murmu and Prime Minister Narendra Modi, accusing the TDP, the second-biggest NDA party after the BJP, of excesses during elections. “They (the BJP) will have to take note of our complaint because we have 15 MPs in both Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha put together. That is just one MP short of the TDP’s tally,” he said.
The TDP swept the elections in Andhra Pradesh, winning 135 seats in the Assembly and 16 Lok Sabha constituencies. The YSRCP was reduced to 11 Assembly seats and has four MPs in the Lok Sabha.
The YSRCP has clarified that it is not willing to unconditionally support either the NDA or the INDIA bloc. “We will support those matters that are in the interest of the country,” Reddy said, adding that the YSRCP’s decisions would be “based on constitutional values”.
The YSRCP has already clarified that the YSRCP will not support any legislation on the Uniform Civil Code (UCC). “Even before the polls we clarified that we would not support the UCC,” Reddy said. The party, however, has not made public if it will support “One Nation, One Election”, which is the BJP’s push to conduct state and general elections in the country simultaneously, with Reddy saying a decision would be taken later. The BJD has not yet clarified its stand on either UCC or “One Nation, One Election”.
During the term of the previous Lok Sabha, the YSRCP and BJD supported the BJP in passing legislation such as the abrogation of Article 370 and the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) in both Houses. The YSRCP, however, took a relook at its stand and said in March that it does not support the CAA in its current format. Earlier, the party opposed the National Register of Citizens in Andhra Pradesh. On triple talaq, the BJD supported the BJP while the YSRCP opposed it. The YSRCP, however, supported the BJP government’s controversial farm laws that were repealed in 2021 after yearlong protests by farmers. The BJD too opposed the farm laws.
In the Rajya Sabha, other parties that will have their say include the Congress with 26 MPs and the Trinamool Congress with 13 MPs. The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and the DMK, both of which are part of the INDIA alliance, have 10 members each. The other major parties with Rajya Sabha members include the Bharat Rashtra Samithi with five MPs; CPI(M) and Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) with five each; AIADMK, Janata Dal (United), and Samajwadi party at four each; Jharkhand Mukti Morcha, Nationalist Congress Party, and Shiv Sena at three each; and the CPI with two.
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