Patna, May 26: The Nitish Kumar-led JDU today retained former party chief Sharad Yadav and bureaucrat-turned-politician RCP Singh as its candidates for the Rajya Sabha, leaving out diplomat-turned-leader Pavan Varma and the party's national spokesman K.C. Tyagi.

The party also dropped its another Rajya Sabha member, Gulam Rasool Baliyayi, from the fray but has rehabilitated him by nominating the minority community leader as its candidate for the Legislative Council.

The JDU had its five members - Sharad, RCP, Varma, Tyagi and Baliyayi - completing their terms. But in the new equations emerging in the Assembly after last year's elections, the ruling party could retain only two.

"The party has decided to field our former president Sharad ji and RCP Singh for the two Rajya Sabha seats in its share. The party has also nominated Baliyayi and C.P. Sinha for the Council membership," state JDU president Bashishtha Narayan Singh told reporters.

Sinha belongs to the Kushwaha caste who will make his debut in the Council when declared elected.

The polls for the seven seats in the Council and five in the Rajya Sabha are due on June 10 and June 11, respectively.

The RJD is set to bag two Rajya Sabha seats while the remaining one will go to the BJP. Given the numerical strength of the House, at least 41 MLAs (who constitute the electoral college for electing the Upper House members) will be required to elect a Rajya Sabha member. The RJD and JDU have 80 and 71 MLAs, respectively. They are likely to secure the support the Congress's 27 MLAs to ensure victory of their candidates. The BJP, which has 53 MLAs, will safely elect one of its members to the Rajya Sabha.

Similarly, the RJD, JDU and BJP are likely to share two seats each while the Congress will get one out of the seven seats for the Legislative Council going to the polls.

The RJD has so far not announced its candidates. Sources said the party might nominate Rabri Devi-Lalu Prasad's daughter Misa Bharti and Supreme Court lawyer Ram Jethmalani as its candidates for the Rajya Sabha.

Sharad, Varma and Baliyayi had truncated term in the Rajya Sabha, as they had gone against the vacancies arising out midway with the earlier incumbents - Ram Vilas Paswan, Ram Kripal Yadav and Rajiv Pratap Rudi - making it to the Lok Sabha during the 2014 elections.

Though Sharad faced no opponents, Varma and Baliyayi defeated Anil Sharma and Sabir Ali who had entered the fray as Independent nominees.

Chief minister Nitish Kumar had indicated on Wednesday about the party announcing its candidates shortly. Bashishtha made it official today.

After Nitish replaced Sharad as the JDU national president, his opponents - mainly the BJP - guessed that Nitish might "sideline" the veteran leader the way he did to former party patriarch, George Fernandes. But Nitish has retained Sharad, indicating that Sharad would continue to lead the party in the Rajya Sabha.

Varma sounded "cool" while Tyagi was, apparently, upset. "I will continue to serve the party as its committed worker. The continuation in the Rajya Sabha does not matter to me. I will continue to be loyal to Nitish ji," Pavan said. Tyagi, however, banged the phone when asked about his reaction.

Tyagi was originally a Sharad's progeny. But he showed his proximity to Nitish when the latter was locked in succession battle with Jitan Ram Manjhi ahead of the 2015 Assembly polls. Tyagi was also a familiar face on TV channels. But Nitish's old loyalist and caste-man RCP Singh seems to have scored over Tyagi in this round of the battle.