Vasant Chavan elected to RS
DH News Service Mumbai:
The Shiv Sena chose not to contest, while the Congress conceded the seat to NCP.

Nationalist Congress Party's Maharashtra spokesperson Vasant Chavan has been
elected to
the Rajya Sabha unopposed in a byelection. Mr Chavan's was the only nomination
that was
declared valid on the day of scrutiny by the chief returning officer for the RS
elections.

The byelection was necessitated following the resignation of maverick MP Sanjay
Nirupam,
formerly with the Shiv Sena. The formal declaration of Mr Chavan's election will
be made
shortly after the last date of withdrawal.

The fact that Shiv Sena chose not to contest the RS seat took everyone by
surprise. While
the reasons are not known, the party leaders point to the number arithmetic in
the
legislative assembly which forms the electoral college for the RS poll.

In the assembly, the ruling Congress-NCP coalition has a clear edge over the
Sena-BJP
combine, and in a straight fight, there would have been no chance whatsoever for
the Sena
to retain the seat.

The Congress conceded the RS seat to the NCP, thanks to the pressure exerted by
NCP
chief Sharad Pawar on the party high command. It is believed that the Congress
will
demand its pound of flesh at the time of biennial RS elections to be held next
year. In the
assembly, the NCP is the largest single party with 71 MLAs, while the Congress
comes
second.

Mr Vasant Chavan hails from Pune and is close to Mr Pawar. He had been a cabinet
minister in the previous Congress-led government, but was dropped in the
reconstituted
council of ministers as he is a member of the Upper House, i.e., the legislative
council.

Mr Nirupam quit the membership of the Rajya Sabha on the instructions of party
supremo
Bal Thackeray, after he tried to embarrass BJP general secretary Pramod Mahajan
by
making unsubstantiated charges.

The charges were related to allotment of shares of Reliance Infocomm at
throwaway price
to individuals, one of whom, according to Mr Nirupam, was close to Mr Mahajan.
The BJP
leader was the communications minister in the Vajpayee government when Reliance
Infocomm was launched.

However, Mr Nirupam's attempts to create a stir in Rajya Sabha failed when Union
Finance
Minister P Chidambaram steered clear of the issue, stating that Reliance
Infocomm did not
come under the purview of SEBI, which ruled out investigation of share allotment
by the
SEBI.

Mr Nirupam had never made any direct allegations against Mr Mahajan. However,
his
attempts to raise the issue backfired, with Mr Thackeray telling him to get out
of the party
and resign from Rajya Sabha.