The victory of Parimal Nathwani, the 52-year-old President (Corporate Affairs) of Mukesh Ambani’s Reliance Industries Ltd, in the Rajya Sabha polls on Wednesday was symbolic of the UPA’s leaderhip’s inability to put up a consensus candidate. Despite having 43 MLAs in the 81-member House, the alliance drew a blank in the elections.

The opposition NDA, with a combined strength of 35 MLAs, saw its candidate Jai Prakash Narayan Singh (BJP) sailing through with as many first preference votes. But former Delhi Municipal Corporation’s councillor Kishori Lal, who was fielded by the JMM, and Supreme Court lawyer R K Anand, who was officially backed by the Congress and the RJD, failed to make the cut.

In fact, Independent MLA and UPA Chief Minister Madhu Koda abstained from voting. “I wanted the UPA to fight the polls as one. But since that did not happen, I decided not to be identified with any of the two candidates,” he said.

Meanwhile, Nathwani, who benefitted from this unexpected turn of events, says he will be a “brand ambassador” for the state. Nathwani, a Gujarati born and brought up in Mumbai, bagged 16 first preference—one of a BJP rebel, nine from the JMM, two from Congress, three from RJD and one of Independent MLA Enos Ekka. He also raked in six second preference votes — four from BJP rebels, one from the RJD and one from the JMM. Initially, Nathwani’s candidacy had been proposed by 10 JMM legislators and BJP MLA Tala Marandi.

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