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After Congress, BJP shifts Rajasthan MLAs to resort ahead of RS polls
As many as 49 BJP MLAs were, on Monday, taken to a resort along the Jaipur-Agra highway. Others are expected to reach soon.
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Monday shifted most of its MLAs to a resort for a “training camp” ahead of the crucial Rajya Sabha elections on June 10, days after an uneasy Congress adopted a similar move over fears of poaching by the opposition party.
Several BJP MLAs arrived at the party office here in the afternoon and were subsequently taken to a resort along the Jaipur-Agra highway in a party bus for a “training camp”, state BJP chief Satish Poonia said.
While 49 MLAs have arrived at the resort so far, others are expected to reach by the end of the day, he added.
“The MLAs will be provided training on how to cast their votes. Besides, such meetings also help organisationally as there are many MLAs who have been elected for the first time. They will be briefed about the party’s history, legislation and raising issues of respective constituencies,” Poonia said.
Discussions will also be held on programmes that need to be organised to mark eight years of the Narendra Modi government, he added.
Commenting on the Congress shifting its Rajasthan MLAs to a resort, Poonia said: “If they weren’t apprehensive or under fear, 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. The people are seeing them chilling in pools and enjoying music.”
Elections to 57 seats in the Upper House of Parliament, spread across 15 states and Union territories, are slated to be held on June 10. Four of these seats are from Congress-ruled Rajasthan, and two are from Haryana.
The BJP is the principal opposition party in Rajasthan assembly.
The Congress on June 2 moved its Rajasthan MLAs to hotels in Udaipur and Raipur in Chhattisgarh, which is also ruled by the party. While some were shifted to a luxury hotel in Udaipur, where the party had recently held its ‘Chintan Shivir’ (brainstorming session), others were flown to Raipur on a charter plane and sent to a hotel on the outskirts of the city.
The party 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 and has decided to support independent Subhash Chandra’s candidature.
The ruling Congress, with 108 MLAs in the 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, 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.
Congress leaders claim the support of 126 MLAs, including 108 of the Congress. It needs 123 MLAs to win three seats. More than 115 MLAs, including independents and those supporting the Congress, are lodged in the hotels in Udaipur and Raipur, party functionaries said.
The state BJP chief also lashed out at the Congress for “failing on all fronts”.
“They have no solution to the electricity or water crisis… There is nothing like governance in Rajasthan. It is proved that Ashok Gehlot’s government is ‘jugaad ki sarkar’ and has failed on all fronts,” Poonia said.
Hitting back, independent MLA and advisor to CM Gehlot, Sanyam Lodha, said: “The entire country knows that Ashok Gehlot is a magician. The development works he has done in the state are historic, and were never done before.”
On BJP’s claim that it will win two seats, Lodha said: “In the last Rajya Sabha polls, one vote was canceled and during the political crisis in 2020, four of their MLAs were absent from the assembly. It will not be a surprise if their own numbers decline during voting.”
Meanwhile, the absence of two legislators of BTP, who have been supporting the Congress-led Rajasthan government so far, and an independent has become a source of concern for the ruling party, people familiar with the matter said.
The trio have put forward some conditions before the government in exchange for their support, they added.
On the prospects of independent candidate Subhash Chandra, a senior BJP leader on condition of anonymity said besides three RLP candidates, the party is trying to bring the BTP legislators and independents on board but that the situation seemed difficult.
