Cong MLAS moved to Udaipur hotel to prevent ‘poaching’

JAIPUR: The Rajasthan Congress has decided to shift its legislators to a hotel in Udaipur, where the party held an all-india Chintan Shivir in mid-may, party leaders said, fearing poaching attempts by the rival BJP ahead of the crucial Rajya Sabha elections on June 10.

“The party MLAS have been asked to reach Udaipur. Some are likely to go today, and the rest will be reaching tomorrow,” said a state Congress leader aware of the developments. Apart from Congress MLAS, the leader cited above said that independent legislators and those from other parties who are supporting the BJP will also be shifted to Udaipur.the move comes a day after media baron Subhash Chandra, who is backed by the BJP, filed his nomination papers as an independent candidate for the Rajya Sabha polls.

The Congress has fielded Mukul Wasnik, Randeep Singh Surjewala, and Pramod Tiwari for the elections to four seats in the Upper House from Rajasthan. The BJP has named former state minister Ghanshyam Tiwari as its candidate. Chandra, the founder of Zee TV, is currently a member of the Upper House from Haryana, and his term ends on August 1.

The ruling Congress, with 108 MLAS in the state assembly, is set to win two of the four seats outright, and the BJP is set to win one. The Congress will then have 26 surplus votes, 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 one seat. This sets up a close race to the finish line between the two parties for the fourth slot. There are 13 independent candidates in the assembly. Among other parties, the CPI has two seats in the assembly, the RLP has three, the BTP has two, while the RLD has one. Soon after Chandra filed his papers, chief minister Ashok Gehlot alleged that the BJP wanted to indulge in horse-trading — a charge the BJP denied.

Meanwhile, the BSP has asked Rajasthan governor Kalraj Mishra and speaker CP Joshi to debar from voting the six MLAS who defected to the Congress in 2019. “...these six MLAS should be stopped from voting in the Rajya Sabha elections...the BSP has decided that it will not support any party or independent in the Rajya Sabha elections,” state BSP president Bhagwan Singh Baba said in a letter Wednesday. But state Congress chief Govind Singh Dotasra said the six MLAS merged with the Congress, and are now the party’s legislators.

In Haryana, the Congress leadership have asked all its 31 MLAS to assemble in New Delhi Thursday. They are likely to be taken to Chattisgarh for a week, people familiar with the matter said. However, Congress’s Bhupinder Hooda said he won’t be going anywhere. “If MLAS are going, they are going on their own,” he said.