A week is a long time in politics, prophesied former British Prime Minister, Harold Wilson, back in the 1960s. It fits the current Indian political situation like a glove. A Rajya Sabha, which the proverbial week ago was BJP’s Achilles Heel and the opposition’s delight, as far as blocking legislation goes, has a different air about it. Suddenly, the most disruptive chamber has become the most creative. The Rajya Sabha came out with flying colours at the end of the Budget session by passing 32 legislations, making it the most productive session in the last 17 years and the fifth-best in 41 years! How’s that for numbers? What has prompted this turnaround is some deft political management by the BJP. 

In the upper House of 245, BJP’s current strength is 115, eight short of the majority mark, which will further shrink once SP’s Neeraj Shekhar returns to the Rajya Sabha. This comes on the back of four Telugu Desam Party MPs in Rajya Sabha — Y S Chowdary, C M Ramesh, Garikapati Mohan Rao and T G Venkatesh - joining BJP recently, besides Ram Kumar Kashyap of INLD. The majority mark at 123 seats has thus been easily offset by 12 nominated members and independents that have gone with the government during the crucial division of votes. Additionally, it has managed to get the support of the BJD with seven members and TRS with six — as it did during scrapping of Article 370 during the Rajya Sabha vote. That, aided with a badly-divided opposition has done the trick. The BJP’s confidence can be gauged from the fact that the most contentious of them all, Article 370 was actually introduced and passed in the upper House! Clearly, Amit Shah is the difference between the BJP and the opposition.