It was said that if Pranav Jha won the Rajya Sabha election in Jharkhand, two of the leaders closest to Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge would have found a place in the Upper House. One is Naseer Hussain, already a Rajya Sabha MP from Karnataka, and the second was Jha. Kharge had also backed Neeraj Dangi from Rajasthan for another term in the Rajya Sabha, which he won.
However, one of Kharge's closest aides, Jha, fell short of the magic number and lost the Rajya Sabha election due to cross-voting. While there was speculation that legislators across the Opposition camp could be compromised, with Congress itself vulnerable to cross-voting, fingers were largely pointed at the RJD's four MLAs in Jharkhand. In the election held on June 18, Jha lost to independent candidate Parimal Nathwani, who was backed by the BJP-led NDA.
Jha needed 28 votes to win the Rajya Sabha election. While the Congress had only 16 MLAs of its own in Jharkhand, it was expected to bridge the gap with the support of its allies. However, the party failed to keep its partners in good humour and was unable to negotiate the numbers required for victory. Several of the INDIA bloc legislators cross-voted in favour of Nathwani.
Kharge's first close aide, Naseer Hussain, was first elected to the Rajya Sabha in 2018 and was re-elected in 2024. After Kharge took over as Congress president in October 2022, a group of four leaders were set up as an attachment to the president's office. These included Naseer Hussain, Pranav Jha, Gurdeep Singh Sappal and Gaurav Pandhi.
Many of them were subsequently accommodated in organisational positions as well. Hussain was made AICC general secretary in-charge of Jammu and Kashmir, while Sappal was appointed in-charge of administration at the AICC. Pandhi, comparatively younger than the others, was unable to navigate the party's internal politics and gradually lost relevance in the upper circles.
The bigger question now arises over Opposition unity in Jharkhand. The JMM had, from the beginning, expressed unhappiness over the declaration of the Congress candidate, claiming that the decision was taken without adequate consultation. Congress leaders, however, maintain that the JMM took too long to respond and that the party could not wait indefinitely. It was also reported that the JMM wanted its own candidate to be nominated to the RS.
Congress was expected to secure five Rajya Sabha MPs on its own and a sixth seat with the support of the JMM in Jharkhand. Additionally, it received an extra seat through support extended by the newly formed government in Tamil Nadu. Yet the party ultimately managed to secure only five seats. Losing one seat each in Madhya Pradesh and Jharkhand.
