Who is Parimal Nathwani, in front of whom India alliance ‘broke’ in Jharkhand Rajya Sabha elections?

The election results for two Rajya Sabha seats in Jharkhand were declared on Thursday evening. In this election, India Alliance candidate of Jharkhand Mukti Morcha has won one seat.

But the surprising result was seen in the second seat where NDA supported independent candidate Parimal Nathwani has registered a spectacular victory amid cross-voting.

Nathwani got 28 votes, after which he was declared the winner. Whereas, Congress candidate Pranab Jha got 20 votes.

With this victory, Parimal Nathwani will reach Parliament as a Rajya Sabha member for the fourth time.

After the victory, Parimal Nathwani posted on Said“I am extremely grateful for the opportunity to serve my fourth term as a Rajya Sabha member. This moment is very emotional for me as this will be my third term from Jharkhand.”

“This is the land from where my parliamentary journey began in 2008. It is a matter of great pride and humility for me to return once again to my work land.”

He expressed gratitude to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union Home and Cooperation Minister Amit Shah, BJP National President Nitin Naveen.

Actually, in the India alliance, there are 34 MLAs of Jharkhand Mukti Morcha, 16 of Congress, 4 of Rashtriya Janata Dal and 2 of CPI (ML) Liberation.

Congress alleges that RJD and CPI (ML) MLAs did not vote for their candidate.

Congress in-charge K. Raju accused RJD and ML MLAs of cheating for Pranab Jha’s defeat.

Of. Raju said, “All 16 votes of Congress are reserved, Jharkhand Mukti Morcha gave 4 votes and Congress got 20 votes. This situation happened because the independent candidate used money…”

But his allegations were refuted by former CPI ML MLA Vinod Singh.

He said, “K. Raju ji is covering up his shortcomings. Congress should itself see which MLAs have switched sides the most across the country. Both our MLAs voted, showed it to the Observer. K. Raju was there otherwise his allegations are baseless.”

However, on the victory of both the candidates, Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren congratulated the two newly elected members of Rajya Sabha elections, Baidyanath Ram and Parimal Nathwani.

He wrote on his X handle, “Today both the public representatives have been elected to represent the voice of Jharkhand in the Upper House.”

Congratulating all the MLAs on his victory, Leader of Opposition Babulal Marandi said, “Nathwani has an old and deep connection with Jharkhand. His election will give impetus to the development of Jharkhand.”

Parimal Nathwani, Director of Corporate Affairs at Reliance Industries Limited, is a well-known face in the Indian corporate and political world.

Apart from politics and business, he is also the President of Gujarat Football Association and a member of the famous Nathdwara Temple Board.

With the victory in Jharkhand Rajya Sabha, this will be his fourth term as Rajya Sabha MP.

70 year old Parimal Nathwani once set up a soap factory in Mumbai after selling cold drinks. He did not stop here, after this in the 1990s he also ran around 40 PCOs from Vadodara, Gujarat.

But sometimes after trying my luck in the stock market, I had to go through stress due to huge financial losses. But in 1997, his meeting with Reliance Industries owner Dhirubhai Ambani changed the direction of his life.

Actually, Jamnagar land acquisition took place under the supervision of Nathwani. The world’s largest refinery was established in Jamnagar on this land of Gujarat.

Parimal Nathwani did not look back after this and thus he came very close to Dhirubhai Ambani.

Nathwani is very important for Mukesh Ambani and Nita Ambani.

Due to his industry-related understanding, his stature grew and Nathwani got the opportunity to play an important role in the expansion of Jio network.

Today, Parimal Nathwani, working as Director of Corporate Affairs in Reliance Industries Limited, has been very active in business, politics and sports administration for the last three decades.

Parimal Nathwani, who was the Chairman of Vadodara Stock Exchange Limited, served on this post from 30 September 2011 to 15 September 2012.

Parimal Nathwani first won the Rajya Sabha election from Jharkhand in 2008 as the first independent MP.

Senior Jharkhand journalist Manish Anand says, “For the first time too, we got the benefit of cross voting and Parimal Nathwani won with very less votes. That time Jharkhand Mukti Morcha had also openly supported him.”

Even in the second term, Parimal Nathwani got a chance to become an independent Rajya Sabha MP from Jharkhand. His tenure lasted from April 2014 to 2020.

Senior journalist Abhishek Singh tells BBC, “For the second time he got the internal support of Congress as an independent candidate.”

In the third term, Nathwani reached Rajya Sabha by winning on YSR Congress ticket from Andhra Pradesh.

On Nathwani’s victory from Jharkhand for the fourth time, senior journalist Abhishek Singh says, “For this victory, the NDA which supported him had a total of 24 MLAs. In such a situation, he needed a total of four MLAs.”

He says, “But he managed to get six votes from his side. Despite two of them being invalid, he got victory. But the question is, how did he get these six votes?”

However, Nathwani, who became Rajya Sabha MP for the fourth time, has also been a member of many important committees in Parliament during all his previous tenures.

After this victory in Jharkhand, Parimal Nathwani, while talking to the media, said, “I will make every possible effort to advance the interests and aspirations of Jharkhand and its people with a new resolve and complete honesty.”

But senior journalist Abhishek Singh, who keeps an eye on the politics of Jharkhand, believes that “Nathwani’s victory due to cross voting can become a cause of rift in the India alliance.”

Published by Collective Newsroom for the BBC.