TMC MP Mahua Moitra on Wednesday, 10 June 2026 accused the Modi government of rejecting Congress Rajya Sabha candidate Meenakshi Natarajan on what she called 'a flimsy joke of an excuse', alleging the move reflects a deliberate strategy by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah to control both Houses of Parliament and amend the Constitution.

Context

Moitra's post states that rejecting Natarajan — an Indian National Congress politician and former Lok Sabha MP from Mandsaur, Madhya Pradesh — on a 'flimsy joke of an excuse' is evidence of desperation in the ruling establishment. She warned that if the BJP-led NDA fails to secure a constitutional majority across both Houses, 'their time is up in 2029', referring to the next general election cycle. The specific grounds cited for the rejection have not been independently verified.

Policy Backdrop

The Rajya Sabha, India's upper house, has been a central battleground since 2014, as the NDA steadily converted state assembly victories into upper-house seats. The coalition achieved a working simple majority in the Rajya Sabha around 2019, enabling landmark legislation including the abrogation of Article 370 of the Constitution. A two-thirds majority in both Houses, however, remains the threshold required for constitutional amendments — a bar the ruling coalition has not yet cleared on its own.

Biennial Rajya Sabha elections scheduled across multiple states in 2026 and 2027 will significantly shape whether the ruling alliance can approach that constitutional amendment threshold. Opposition parties, including TMC and Congress, have repeatedly alleged that the government's legislative and procedural manoeuvres are aimed at eventually achieving that supermajority without broader consensus.

Stakeholders and Impact

Meenakshi Natarajan, the candidate at the centre of this controversy, is a veteran Congress figure who represented Mandsaur in the Lok Sabha. Her candidacy for the Rajya Sabha and the circumstances of its reported rejection now feed into a wider opposition narrative about procedural fairness in upper-house elections. For the Congress, the episode provides fresh ammunition to argue that institutional processes are being weaponised against opposition representation.

For smaller opposition parties like the TMC, alignment with Congress on such issues signals a tactical convergence ahead of the 2029 general elections, even as the two parties remain rivals in states like West Bengal. The episode also puts the spotlight on the Election Commission's role in scrutinising nomination papers for Rajya Sabha elections.

What's Next

The opposition is expected to raise the issue in Parliament and press for transparency on the grounds used to reject Natarajan's nomination. Upcoming biennial Rajya Sabha elections in 2026-2027 will be closely watched as a barometer of the ruling coalition's strength in the upper house. Whether the NDA can inch closer to a two-thirds majority — or whether a consolidated opposition can prevent it — will define the constitutional arithmetic heading into 2029.