Ram Kumar Kashyap, the lone Rajya Sabha MP of the Haryana-based INLD, joined the BJP on Wednesday less than a week after four Telugu Desam Party parliamentarians switched sides, reflecting the ruling party’s urgency to dominate both Houses.

The BJP has a brute majority in the Lok Sabha with 303 members on its own and 353 along with its allies, but lacks a majority in the Rajya Sabha. The BJP, after the latest defections, has 76 MPs in the 245-member upper House. Along with its allies, the strength of the BJP is 102, short of the majority mark of 123.

The BJP-led NDA is likely to secure a majority in the Rajya Sabha by 2021 as vacancies are scheduled to arise in states ruled by the party. The BJP, however, appears to be in a hurry to cobble up a majority or at least be in a comfortable position much ahead of that date. A majority in both Houses would allow the party to push through key bills.

“More such defections from regional parties are likely in the days to come,” a BJP leader said, pointing out that by the end of 2019 or by early 2020 the NDA would have a majority in the Rajya Sabha.

The BJP believes that it can have its way while passing bills that agree with its ideology if it dominates both Houses.

The INLD’s Kashyap joined the BJP in the presence of working president J.P. Nadda on the Parliament premises.

The government uses its commanding majority in the Lok Sabha to get bills passed in the lower House, but many of them get stuck in the Rajya Sabha as the Opposition parties join hands to block them. The bill banning instant triple talaq was passed in the Lok Sabha in December but could not clear the Rajya Sabha. This compelled the government to promulgate an ordinance.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday accused the Opposition of being “obstructionist” in the Rajya Sabha.

“Our government is committed to work in the national interest and so we need a majority in both Houses to push through key bills to take the country forward,” a BJP leader said.

Three BJP-ruled states — Maharashtra, Haryana and Jharkhand — are scheduled to go to the polls this year-end. Rajya Sabha elections are slated in these states for 2020. The BJP’s ability to win Rajya Sabha seats from these states will depend on its showing in the Assembly elections.

As many as 10 Rajya Sabha seats are scheduled to fall vacant in Uttar Pradesh in 2020 and the BJP will win most of them by dint of its huge majority in the state Assembly.