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BJP also moves Rajasthan MLAs to resort ahead of RS poll, calls it training camp
Rajasthan BJP chief Satish Poonia said the Congress flew down its MLAs to a resort in Udaipur because it was apprehensive about the Rajya Sabha elections.
JAIPUR: The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in Rajasthan on Monday summoned its lawmakers to the party headquarters in Jaipur and shifted them to a luxury resort on the Jaipur-Agra highway ahead of voting for the state’s three Rajya Sabha seats on June 10. The move comes a day after the Congress sequestered its lawmakers in a resort in Udaipur to shield them from the BJP which has backed Independent candidate, media baron Subhash Chandra.
Rajasthan BJP Satish Poonia confirmed that most of the party lawmakers had been shifted to a resort but insisted that it was a training camp.
At the training camp, the BJP said, the MLAs will be given training about the procedures to cast their votes for the Rajya Sabha. Besides when everyone meets, it also helps organizationally as there are many MLAs who have been elected for the first time. They will be briefed about the party’s history, legislation and about raising issues of respective constituencies.
To be sure, the state last elected the assembly in December 2018 and the next round of general elections in the state is expected in December 2023.
Poonia said the lawmakers will also discuss the programmes to commemorate eight years of Narendra Modi government at the Centre.
Poonia made it clear that the BJP was confident about its lawmakers but the Congress wasn’t.
“If they weren’t apprehensive… what was the need of going to Udaipur? They could have stayed in their respective homes instead of taking charter planes to reach days ahead of the polls…. People are seeing them chilling in pools and enjoying music,” he said, launching a sharp attack on the Ashok Gehlot government.
Rajasthan’s ruling Congress has fielded three candidates while BJP has fielded one candidate, and has backed independent candidate Subhash Chandra.
Congress with its 108 MLAs in the state assembly is set to win two seats. After winning two seats, Congress will have 26 surplus votes, 15 short of the required 41 to win the third seat.
On the other hand, the BJP has 71 MLAs in the state assembly and is set to win one seat, after which it will be left with 30 surplus votes.
Congress leaders claim the party has the support of 126 MLAs, including 108 of the Congress. It needs 123 MLAs to win three seats.
But the absence of two MLAs of the Bharatiya Tribal Party (BTP), and an Independent - they are rumoured to have put out some conditions for their support in the Rajya Sabha elections - holds the potential of impacting the government’s calculations.
A senior BJP leader who spoke on condition of anonymity said the three including the two BTP legislators were on their radar apart from three Rashtriya Loktantrik Party (RLP) legislators. But he did not spell out if the BJP was close to winning their support.
Independent MLA and Advisor to the CM, Sanyam Lodha suggested the Congress has nothing to worry. “The entire country knows that Ashok Gehlot is a magician. The development works he has done in the state are historic, and never done before,” he said, adding that he won’t be surprised if the BJP and its supported candidate don’t get the support of all the 71 MLAs.
