Vijay Mallya eyes Rajya Sabha again

Vijay Mallya is again at the gateway of good times. If all goes well, the liquor baron will get a ticket to the Rajya Sabha (RS) for a second term, thanks to the divisions in the Congress-JD(S) alliance.

By-elections will be held on June 17 to fill the four vacant RS seats from Karnataka. The broken alliance has revived the hopes of Mallya to get elected as the fourth candidate from Karnataka to the RS.

A candidate needs at least 45 votes from the state assembly to get elected, and the BJP, with the strength of 116, will have surplus votes even after getting two of its nominees elected. Congress is certain of one seat with 74 members. JD(S) has just 27 and can’t afford even one. So, who will grab the fourth seat?

Mallya is eyeing that. He is counting his fingers and meeting the bigwigs of state politics to garner support. According to sources, the JD(S) has no objections to supporting Mallya, if Congress, too, is ready to accept him as the consensus candidate for the fourth seat. Mallya is said to be in touch with the BJP and Congress to make up the numbers.

Meanwhile, senior BJP leader M Venkaiah Naidu and Ayanur Manjunath, former MP from Shimoga, have filed their nominations for the RS polls from Karnataka assembly. On Wednesday, Naidu and Manjunath came along with chief minister BS Yeddyurappa and other senior ministers to file the papers. “We have the strength to win two seats. But our intention is to elect four unanimously. We will not politicise this,” the chief minister said.