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 wasousted 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