Jagan Mohan Reddy bagged the biggest shock and humiliation of his life in the recent elections.
Falling from a historic 151 seats to a paltry eleven, this is as shameful as it can get for any political leader. It is a bigger shock for a self-centric leader like Jagan Mohan Reddy.
Jagan is in neck-deep trouble right now. Not only does Chandrababu have humongous power in the state assembly, but he also has a say over the Central Government as the NDA Government is dependent on his sixteen MPs.
However, he is hopeful that his eleven MPs in Rajya Sabha will save his skin as the NDA does not have a majority in the Upper House.
But then, here is some bad news for Jagan.
With the elections to be held next month for 12 seats, the ruling NDA alliance is likely to get a clear lead in the Rajya Sabha.
Thus, it will be easy to get approval from the Upper House in matters like the Waqf Amendment Bill. YSR Congress recently voted against the Bill.
Although the total number of seats in the Rajya Sabha is 245, the current number of seats is 241 as four seats are vacant due to the absence of legislative elections in Jammu and Kashmir. Twelve seats in 9 states have recently become vacant. Hence the present membership is 229.
The NDA strength is 105, including 87 members of the BJP. The strength of the alliance is 111 with the addition of six members through appointment posts. That means four short of the 115 needed for the majority.
The opposition has 84 members. YSR Congress (11) and BJD (8) are not in any alliance. BJP and its allies are likely to win 11 out of 12 seats in the Rajya Sabha elections to be held on September 3.
If we add them, the strength of NDA will reach 122. That’s enough for a majority in the 241-member House.
Probably that is the reason why Jagan is showing indications of reaching out to the INDI alliance.
