BJP's Decision to Limit RS Membership to 3 Terms Looms Large on Big Brother

Sakshipost Exclusive by K. Sudhakar Reddy

Bharatiya Janata Party's recent decision to limit the number of Rajya Sabha terms for one leader to three may take its first toll on the Union Minister for Urban Development and Parliamentary Affairs M. Venkaiah Naidu. When the party puts its seal on the decision taken 'in principle' at its recent national executive meeting curtailing the number of terms for each candidate to be nominated for Rajya Sabha to three, to fecilitate more of its leaders get a chance, the the big brother of the party in Parliament Venkaiah Naidu will have to quit as he was elected to Rajya Sabha from BJP for third term and it is going to end in June 2016.

Three senior leaders of the party - Venkaiah Naidu, Arun Jaitley and Ravi Shankar Prasad - who are now serving in the Modi government are already in their third term in Rajya Sabha. However, while Jaitley and Prasad have their term till 2018, Venkaiah has only six months for his term. If the party is not going to nominate him for another term, he will be ineligible to continue in the cabinet. Venkaiah being a part of the party's think tank for decades, he never preferred a direct election except for two terms as an MLA from Udayagiri in Nellore during 1978-85. He may not opt for a Lok Sabha election at an age of 66.

However, Venkaiah's supporters in the party are hoping that he will be exempted from the norm of three-term Rajya Sabha nomination even if it comes into effect before he completes his third term. They argue that for such a senior leader like Venkaiah Naidu who is serving in a responsible position in the government and who also served as the president of the party during 2002-04, there won't be any opposition in the party for a fourth term. Considering his long years in party and various positions, Venkaiah is fondly called 'big brother' by his colleagures.

Earlier, Jaswant Singh and Pramod Mahajan were given four terms in Rajya Sabha. BJP patriarch LK Advani also served for four terms in Rajya Sabha, but his first two terms were from Janasangh during 1970-1982 and then he continued on BJP nomination from 1992 to 1994.