Crorepatis in Contest

The owner of the Royal Challengers Bangalore cricket team in the Indian Premier League now has the onerous task of ensuring that he gets at least 20 more guaranteed votes from the lot of six Independents associated with the BJP as well as surplus votes available from the BJP or even the Congress camps.

Neither the BJP nor the Congress have expressed support for Mallya in public,leaving experts to believe that the field is open for picking by the businessman.

With the Rajya Sabha elections not conducted under secret ballot it will be open to observers of candidates to identify turncoats from the lot of legislators who have promised support to the liquor baron,say political experts.

If elected,Mallya will make his second entry into the Rajya Sabha,having already served a term between April 2002 and April 2008 on the basis of support of the JD(S). In his past term as MP Mallya wasnt a mute participant in the Upper House but contributed by asking questions and even speaking up during discussions though there is an image to the contrary about his contributions to the affairs of Karnataka.

If I were not confident,then I would not be here, says Mallya,who set himself up for the Rajya Sabha polls after calling himself a son of the soil the way Deve Gowda likes to refer to himself at the BJP governments Global Investors Meet.

Mallyas candidature hit the surface after he had an hour-long meeting with Deve Gowda. He arrived for the nominations flanked by Gowdas two sons,sending out a clear message to all JD(S)

MLAs that Mallya is their king of good times too.

Santosh Bagrodia: Spanner in the BJP works

Five candidates are in the poll fray for four Rajya Sabha seats from Rajasthan. The Congress has nominated Union Minister Anand Sharma and Ashk Ali Tak,while the BJP has nominated former MP V P Singh and advocate Ram Jethmalani. Denied a ticket this time Santosh Bagrodia,a former Congress MP,has decided to contest as an Independent. However,it seems Bagrodia,a known Congress loyalist,is in the fray to disrupt the BJP camp.

The 200-member Assembly consists of 102 legislators from the Congress,79 from the BJP,three from the CPM,one each from the JD(U),Loktantrik Samajwadi Party and SP and 13 Independents.

With each candidate requiring 41 votes to secure a victory,the election is but a formality for Sharma and Tak,while for the BJP,who are yet to decide a priority candidate,Jethmalanis nomination has caused a considerable rift within the state party unit.

Bagrodia,who enjoys the tacit support of the Congress and maybe even the Independent MLAs,who in 2008 pledged their allegiance to Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot,needs eight votes to secure victory. Though one member from the BJP will sail through,the other would require three votes,which they have been trying to seek with either the 13 Independents or the three CPM candidates.

The CPM has not come clean on whether the party members will be voting or not,and this may change the outcome to the BJPs advantage. If the CPM abstains from voting,then the candidates would need only 40 votes to win. With 79 legislators and the assured support of lone JD(U) MLA Fateh Singh,the BJP would have the required numbers to secure seats for both candidates.

T V Maruti: Cong pokes holes in JD(S) politics

Congress insiders admit that the candidature of T V Maruti,a silk merchant and owner of one of Bangalores most famous silk saree stores,Shanthala Silks,is largely for strategic reasons rather than his capability to forge a victory. The owner of the Hanuman Weaving Factory already has reaped rewards for his loyalty to the party by being given the post of the regional chairman of the Indian Silk Export Promotion Council,a trade promotion arm of the Union Textile Ministry.

Maruti can hope for 28 surplus votes of the Congress,but will have to generate at least 18 more votes by fighting Mallya for the BJPs 24 surplus votes.

Maruti is worth Rs 11 crore,according to his asset declaration.

According to insiders,Maruti,a member of the dominant Vokkaliga caste and a representative of the silk weaving industry in the Vokkaliga dominated southern parts of Karnataka,is being fielded by the Congress to poke holes in the politics of the JD(S) that is fielding Mallya as its candidate. The move is seen as an effort to spite JD(S) president and former prime minister H D Deve Gowda who is seen as a patriarch of the Vokkaligas and whose party has in the run up to the polls spoken of fielding a minority candidate.

Tara Ranjan Patnaik: Orissas Highest tax payer gets BJP support

Businessman Tara Ranjan Patnaik who has his hands in every pie,starting from seafood exports to technical education is now trying his luck in politics. Believed to be one of the three richest persons from the state,50-something Patnaik is the richest candidate among the four contenders for Rajya Sabha from Orissa. The man who a few years ago was the highest income tax payer of Orissa,started his career as a clerk in a bank. His father was a lawyer and Patnaik was also getting ready to join his fathers profession. But a few weeks in the bank as a clerk,he quit to start seafood business in the 1980s. He bought a few fishing trawlers and started the Falcon Group which started exporting seafood abroad from Paradip port.

A member of the influential Patnaik clan of mineral-rich Keonjhar,it was no coincidence that he prospered during the reign of former Congress chief minister J B Patnaik between 1980 and 1990. Patnaiks cousin Soumyaranjan Patnaik,editor of Oriya daily Sambad,was the son-in-law of the former CM. Another cousin Niranjan Patnaik was a minister in J B Patnaik government.

After making his mark in seafood sector,Patnaik branched into real estate,finance,and even started an engineering college. The turnover of the Falcon Group is stated to be Rs 1,500 crore.

Some say a RS membership would help his clan gain political strength and keep the business interests intact. What has made Patnaiks candidature interesting is the open support of the BJP. I have commitment towards the people of Orissa. In Rajya Sabha I would fight for the people of Orissa, he said.

Uday Garudachar: Choosing Bihar over his home state

As the sixth candidate and an Independent,Uday Garudachar wants to upset RJD-LJP applecart by jumping into the Rajya Sabha poll fray. Son of former Karnataka director general of police B N Garudachar,Uday is a real estate businessman with strong political connections. He has enjoyed a good rapport with both Congress and BJP politicians in Karnataka over the years. But Uday found Bihar a

fit place to try his luck instead of his home state.

A mall in central Bangalore built by Uday,called the Garuda Mall,is among the most popular haunts in Bangalore today. The project has,however,had its share of controversy since the site was owned by the city corporation and a parking area was originally planned for the site before the mall project took precedence during the Congress regime in Karnataka.

But the real story behind his RS nomination lies somewhere beyond his political aspirations. It was Dadan Singh,better known as Dadan Pahalwan,the lone MLA of Akhil Jan Vikas Dal,from Dumraon (Buxar),who got Uday in the Bihar fray. A Buxar reporter following Dadans political moves,said the muscleman MLA has been very good at attracting sponsors. Even if Uday withdraws his nomination or loses the RS contest,Dadan would get Uday to sponsor his election expenses by doling out promises to make the Bangalore mall owner an MLA, he said.

Dadan Singh could not be contacted.