With Naidu in hot seat, 58 MPs and JD(U), BJP set to conquer Rajya Sabha

The BJP’s candidate, Venkaiah Naidu, was able to easily win the election for the Vice President of India, defeating Gopalkrishna Gandhi, the opposition’s choice.

The Monsoon session of Parliament is turning out to be quite successful for the Bharatiya Janata Party and its alliance the NDA. With the election of both the President and Vice-President of India done and dusted, it's been raining support for the saffron party.

From first being able to get Ram Nath Kovind elected President and forging a division within the opposition while doing so, to easily getting Venkaiah Naidu elected Vice-President, things seem to be going exactly according to the script for the ruling dispensation.

It's the election of Naidu that has been the cherry on the cake for the BJP, given the fact that by holding the office he has also become the ex-officio chairman of the Rajya Sabha.

The Upper House of Parliament is the one place where despite winning election to the Lok Sabha in 2014 with thumping majority and in the states one after the other, the BJP has been unable to show similar dominance at.

This was clear from the embarrassment that the government suffered when it was not able to pass the Constitution (123rd Amendment) Bill, 2017, for setting up of a National Commission for Backward Classes in the form it intended to in the house due to the absence of NDA ministers and members. A cardinal sin, given that it does not have a majority in the house.

But while the alliance led by the BJP is not expected to have a majority in the house till 2020, even though it should gain around 18 seats in both the current and next year, it has not meant that the BJP has chosen to wait for another three years.

Since the latest parliament session has started, the party has seen success in its attempts to take control of the Rajya Sabha. Such attempts have borne fruit with now the BJP becoming the single largest party in it, overtaking the Congress, with 58 seats to Grand Old party's 57.

Above this, by choosing Naidu, a multiple term member of Rajya Sabha, the BJP has found an individual who would help it ease its way through a house where the opposition still has considerable strength and presence.

At least temporarily till the representatives from the states that the party and its alliance has won since coming to power in 2014 become members of the house and give it a more permanent control over it.

Along with this, in another development which has gone far in helping the saffron party is the support that will flow towards it from Nitish Kumar's Janata Dal (United). Though the focus of the new coalition in Bihar has been on the breaking up of the oppositions Grand Alliance, little thought has gone to the value of 10 members that the JD(U) has in the 245 member house.

Other than this, the importance, for the party and its alliance lies not only in the numbers of members supporting it but also the leaders that are brought in to the house. This is where the very likely entry of BJP President, Amit Shah, as a member of Rajya Sabha assumes importance.

The BJP supremo is expected to be elected on August 8, to represent Gujarat in the upper house along with Smriti Irani. While such a development is most important for what it means for the leadership of the party for the elections in 2024, the fact that his presence will have a positive effect on the discipline and performance of the party is a given.

With Shah taking command, the chances of the embarrassment faced while passing legislation in the past are likely not to repeat. This will also make sure that his party is able to counter senior leaders from the opposition, who are mainly members of the upper house, given the poor strength of the group in the lower house.

Such details also matter given the troubles that BJP has seen in the house with the opposition succeeding multiple times at opposing the government's policies. These could be seen as the delay in the plans to get legislation passed such as GST and the land acquisition amendments.

So while the growing numbers for the government will be considered good news, it would be considered the opposite for the parties such as the Congress and its alliance partners in the UPA. As BJP's gain in the Rajya Sabha has been mostly at the direct cost of the party of the Gandhi family.

This is what leaves the opposition led by the Congress with a mountain to climb, if it wants to continue to take on the government and counter policies that it feels are to the detriment of the country, as in the case contentious issues such as Uniform Civil Code, Article 370 etc.

Especially since the BJP is already in power in 18 states, 13 on its own and 5 in coalition, with a clear majority in the Lok Sabha, and is going gung-ho to get the advantage in the Rajya Sabha, which can be looked at as the field of the opposition's last stand against it, for now.

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