Victory won't change BJP numbers in RS for now

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)'s good show in the Haryana and Maharashtra Assembly elections will hardly alter its seats in the Rajya Sabha. The BJP, along with its allies, is woefully short of a majority in the Upper House of Parliament. The party needs better numbers in the House to ensure passage of key Bills, but cannot hope for improved tally before mid-2016.

The Rajya Sabha currently has 242 MPs, with another three vacancies. These are from Uttarakhand, Jharkhand and Haryana. The BJP can hope to get one of its members elected from Haryana after its stellar performance. The party is also confident of doing well in Jharkhand in the coming state polls. As for Haryana, another Rajya Sabha seat would fall vacant in mid-2016 when an Indian National Lok Dal (INLD) member retires. Similarly, Maharashtra has 19 Rajya Sabha seats. But none of the MPs' terms would be over before mid-2016, when six, including BJP's Piyush Goyal and Shiv Sena's Sanjay Rout, would retire. One seat of Haryana and six of Maharashtra will be part of the 73 to fall vacant by mid-2016.

 

This year, terms of 10 Rajya Sabha members from Uttar Pradesh's 31 seats would be over in end-November. Of these, six are from the Bahujan Samaj Party and one each from the Samajwadi Party (SP) and BJP. Two others are independents, including Amar Singh. The re-election would reflect the current strength of the UP Assembly, and most of the 10 would go to the SP. In 2015, terms of six MPs would be over - three from Kerala, one from Pondicherry and two nominated. The National Democratic Alliance's big opportunity to increase its strength would come only in 2016 with as many as 73 MPs, including five nominated members, set to retire. Terms of 10 MPs would end in 2017 and 68 MPs in 2018.

Currently, the BJP has 43 members in the Rajya Sabha. The tally of the NDA, that BJP leads, is 58 - allies Shiromani Akali Dal (3), Shiv Sena (3), Telugu Desam Party (6) and one each of Sikkim Democratic Front, Nagaland People's Front and Republican Party of India (A).

Among potential supporters, the Nationalist Congress Party has six MPs, Biju Janata Dal seven, INLD two, Bodo People's Front one and the AIADMK 11. Most of the current 10 nominated members and nine independents can be expected to support key government Bills. However, even with the support of these parties the NDA can manage only 104. The halfway mark in the 242 member house is 121.

The Congress-led opposition has sizeable numbers in the Upper House. The Congress has 68 MPs, and its allies Kerala Congress (M) and Jharkhand Mukti Morcha have one each. The Bahujan Samaj Party (14), Trinamool Congress (12), Janata Dal United (12), Samajwadi Party (10), CPI(M) (9) and DMK (4) are other prominent parties in the opposition. Some smaller parties unlikely to support the government are CPI (2), National Conference (2), Janata Dal Secular (1), Telangana Rashtra Samithi (1) and Rashtriya Janata Dal (1). Together, these parties comprise 138 MPs, but BJP can hope some of them, like Mayawati-led BSP, could support the government on key Bills.

It is unlikely that NDA can hope to get a majority on its own in the Rajya Sabha before 2018.

INDUSTRY VOICES

New government in Maharashtra should initiate bold decisions: Harsh Goenka

In the past few years, decision-making has suffered and corruption has seeped into the system. An absolute majority is a huge opportunity for any government to initiate bold decisions and push economic reforms. The new government, hopefully, will bring back Maharashtra to being the leading state not only on economic parameters but also on civic amenities for the common man. Maharashtra needs faster implementation of stalled infrastructure projects and fund availability for new ones, unhindered supply of electricity and safe drinking water across the state, low cost housing and a zero tolerance policy for corruption. Hopefully, the coalition is more aligned and takes a unified approach towards Maharashtra's development.

Harsh Goenka, Chairman, RPG Enterprises

Haryana should look for reforms in realty sector: Pranav Ansal

To give a boost to the realty sector, it is essential that the government in Haryana create city-level unified project implementation and monitoring committees for comprehensive planning and time-bound implementation of infrastructure projects. Double charging of stamp duty in registration process should be removed. Building bylaws and internal development works guidelines/parameters must be revised, and there should be incentives for green/environment-friendly developments. Approval processes should be streamlined. Licence renewal fees should be charged only on the rate at which licence was originally granted. Developers should be treated on a par with individual applicants/persons with respect to various approval processes. The land area norms should be rationalised and the floor-area ratio (FAR) of community sites be increased from the present 1.0 to 1.5.

Pranav Ansal, MD, Ansal API