NDA jittery ahead of VP polls, leaders seeking Opposition support: Raut

Shiv Sena (UBT) Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Raut on Friday couldn’t resist pointing out what is becoming increasingly obvious: the BJP-led NDA, despite its vaunted majority, seems to be breaking into a sweat over the upcoming vice-presidential election.

According to Raut, the ruling alliance has been quietly reaching out to INDIA bloc parties for support, worried that its own MPs from Andhra Pradesh and Telangana — not least those in N. Chandrababu Naidu's TDP — may not be entirely reliable when the time comes to press the button in Parliament.

It is worth recalling that India’s vice-president is elected by an electoral college made up of both Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha MPs — a total of nearly 800 members. Unlike presidential polls, there’s no weightage based on state populations; it’s one MP, one vote, with the candidate crossing the halfway mark declared the winner.

On paper, the NDA has the numbers and more, with TDP playing a critical supporting role. In practice, the secrecy of the ballot means the risk of cross-voting is never far from the minds of party whips, especially when discontent is brewing within their own camp.

Raut couldn’t resist a dig at the irony. In 2007, when the Shiv Sena was a BJP ally, it had chosen to back Congress nominee Pratibha Patil for the presidency simply because she was from Maharashtra. Now, he suggested, NDA MPs from Andhra Pradesh and Telangana might be tempted to return the favour by voting for Opposition candidate and former Supreme Court judge B. Sudershan Reddy — also from the region.

“Are you (NDA) scared that there will be cross-voting? …there will be cross-voting by duplicate Shiv Sena (a jab at the Eknath Shinde faction). There is majority on paper but the (Opposition) candidate is from Andhra Pradesh. There is uneasiness (among MPs) in Telangana and Andhra Pradesh,” Raut observed with barely disguised amusement.

And he didn’t stop there. With Rahul Gandhi’s recent Voter Adhikar Yatra in Bihar and #VoteChori campaign rekindling Opposition unity and morale in crucial states like Bihar, Raut suggested the atmosphere itself might nudge a few NDA MPs towards rebellion.

Which, of course, explains the sudden outbreak of ‘political courtesy’: Union defence minister Rajnath Singh and Maharashtra chief minister Devendra Fadnavis allegedly personally dialling Uddhav Thackeray and Sharad Pawar earlier this week, seeking their backing.

The Sena (UBT) has already made its stance clear — it will vote for the Opposition nominee. For Raut, the BJP’s lobbying only exposes its hypocrisy: “You are asking for votes from the very parties you split. You claim you have the majority. Why are you seeking votes, and what right do you have to do that?”

At stake are not just numbers, but face. The NDA has put forward C.P. Radhakrishnan, erstwhile governor of Maharashtra and former governor of Jharkhand, while the INDIA bloc is backing Reddy. On paper, the NDA should cruise through. But the very fact that it is scurrying around for reassurances reveals a nervousness that belies its boasts of invincibility. Particularly given the fact that Reddy and Naidu are associates of old.

After all, vice-presidential contests are supposed to be routine affairs, settled long before voting day. When a ruling coalition with a brute majority starts hunting for extra votes, it says less about arithmetic and more about the deep distrust festering inside its own ranks. And in a secret ballot, that distrust can prove fatal.

With PTI inputs