Cong keeps Raj, Hry MLAS in hotels ahead of RS polls
Sachin Saini and Ritesh Mishra
JAIPUR/RAIPUR: The Congress party’s legislators from Rajasthan and Haryana were on Thursday lodged in hotels in Udaipur and Raipur respectively as resort politics — a familiar trend in recent years to prevent poaching attempts by other parties — resumed ahead of the crucial Rajya Sabha elections on June 10.
The move came after businessmen Subhash Chandra and Kartikeya Sharma filed their nominations as independent candidates from Rajasthan and Haryana respectively, with the support of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) for what could be two pitched electoral contests.
The BJP is the principal opposition party in the Rajasthan assembly, and leads the ruling alliance in Haryana. Four Rajya Sabha seats from Congress-ruled Rajasthan, and two from Haryana will go to polls on June 10.
The Congress has fielded three candidates in Rajasthan — Mukul Wasnik, Randeep Singh Surjewala, and Pramod Tiwari. The BJP has named former state minister Ghanshyam Tiwari as its candidate, apart from deciding to support Chandra’s candidature. The Congress, with 108 MLAS in the assembly, is set to win two of the four seats outright, the BJP is set to win one.
The Congress will then have 26 surplus votes, but 15 short of the required 41 to win the third seat. The BJP, which has 71 MLAS, will be left with 30 surplus votes after securing its seat. There are 13 independents in the assembly, with the Communist Party of India (CPI) having two seats, the Rashtriya Loktantrik Party (RLP) three, the Bharatiya Tribal Party two, and the Rashtriya Lok Dal one. Though chief minister Ashok Gehlot said he was confident the Congress would pull through with the support of independents and friendly parties, analysts say that Chandra’s nomination has made it a close race to the finish line.
For the two seats in Haryana, the Congress has fielded one candidate, Ajay Maken, and the BJP has fielded Kishan Lal Panwar, apart from extending support to Kartikeya Sharma. The number needed to win an Upper House seat is 30 in the 90-member assembly, and though the Congress has 31 members, the BJP and its allies have 57 members. This means the ruling alliance will have 27 excess votes after it secures its seat, and two crossvotes from the Congress could enable Sharma’s win.
Congress MLAS left in a bus from the CM’S residence in Jaipur to Udaipur’s Taj Aravali hotel, where the party had held its Chintan Shivir last month. The bus was escorted by a police team. Meanwhile, 27 of the Congress MLAS from Haryana reached Raipur in private plane on Thursday evening, and will be staying at the Mayfair hotel on the outskirts of the city.
BJP vice-president Vasundhara Raje said it was “shocking” to see “power being misused” before the Rajya Sabha poll. “A police vehicle has been placed behind every MLA and they are being chased. This is a complete abuse of power, which has never happened before,” alleged the former Rajasthan CM.