All eyes in the BJP camp would be on Sushil Kumar Modi, the party’s most visible face in Bihar for decades, who was allegedly stripped of the deputy CM’s post in 2020 because of his perceived closeness to the JD(U) supremo.He was sent to the Rajya Sabha from a seat that fell vacant upon the death of former Union minister and LJP founder Ram Vilas Paswan, a year after the latter got elected in a by-poll necessitated by BJP leader Ravi Shankar Prasad’s debut in the Lok Sabha.It would also be interesting to see whom the JD(U) fields for the lone seat it may get.Singh has been an old loyalist of Nitish Kumar who gave up the JD(U) state president’s post two years ago, citing ill-health, only to be back as the national vice-president after the de facto leader formally took over as the party chief.Hegde has been a trusted aide, too, albeit low key, whose choice last year in a by-poll necessitated by the death of Mahendra Prasad alias “king”, regarded as a money-bag, took all by surprise.Fundraising abilities had also earned a Rajya Sabha berth for Karim, who runs a private university and a medical college in his home district of Katihar.With the RJD again out of power and top leaders like Lalu Prasad and Tejashwi Yadav embroiled in legal wrangles, it remains to be seen whether Karim is considered for yet another term.Jha has made his mark as the party’s most voluble face in Parliament where the RJD has no representation in the lower house.Whether proximity to the party’s proverbial “first family” earns Jha, who is based in Delhi, another Rajya Sabha term, also remains to be seen.The RJD’s support will be crucial for the Congress, which does not have an adequate number of MLAs, to get anyone from its ranks elected to the Rajya Sabha.Akhilesh Prasad Singh is considered as Lalu Prasad’s most trusted man in the Congress, which he joined in 2010.Singh had held a ministerial berth in the UPA-1 government from the RJD quota, but grew unhappy when the party dumped the Congress for a short-lived alliance with the LJP.
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