Shiv Sena secretary Anil Desai on Wednesday filed his nomination for the Rajya Sabha election to be held on Mach 23. Mr. Desai is a Rajya Sabha member at present, and is contesting for a second term in Delhi.
He is the lone candidate fielded by Sena for the election, and if elected, will get a full term of six years. Mr. Desai will require 42 votes from MLAs to win the election; his party has 63 MLAs in the Lower House.
Where they stand
With six Rajya Sabha seats up for grabs from Maharashtra, the 122-MLA-strong Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) will get three MPs elected, while the Sena, Congress and Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) will get one each.
The NCP has announced its sitting RS MP Vandana Chavan as its candidate. The Congress is yet to announce its candidate as the six-year terms of Rajni Patil and Rajiv Shukla come to an end. On Tuesday, Leader of Opposition Radhakrishna Vikhe-Patil was called to Delhi to discuss the possible names.
The BJP will field three candidates, but is yet to announce. Though news reports have said former Congress leader and Maharashtra Swabhiman Paksha founder Narayan Rane might be nominated, sources close to him have denied this. His son and Congress MLA Nitesh Rane has said that Mr. Rane’s supporters want him in Maharashtra and not in Delhi.
When asked by reporters if Sena members would vote for Mr. Rane if ally BJP were to field him, Mr. Desai said, “Our stand on him is loud and clear. We have voiced it openly several times … If there is to be a change in the stand, the decision will be taken by Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray.”
The Sena had earlier opposed the proposal to induct Mr. Rane into the State cabinet. Mr. Rane started his political career with the Sena, even becoming chief minister, before leaving the party and joining the Congress.
