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Rajasthan Congress wins 3 seats; Gehlot calls it a ‘victory of democracy’
Political observers said Gehlot saw the Rajya polls as an opportunity to show the party high command that he was still in full control of the state.
Jaipur: The Congress on Friday won three of the four Rajya Sabha seats on offer in Rajasthan and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) won one, bolstering the position of chief minister Ashok Gehlot who led the party’s campaign and faces a challenging election campaign next year.
Congress nominees Mukul Wasnik, Randeep Singh Surjewala and Pramod Tiwari won with 42, 43 and 41 votes, respectively, and BJP’s Ghanshyam Tiwari received 43 votes in a state where a Rajya Sabha seat required 41 votes.
BJP-supported independent candidate, media baron Subhash Chandra, lost with 30 votes.
CM Gehlot termed it “a victory of democracy”.
“Congress’s victory on three Rajya Sabha seats in Rajasthan is a victory of democracy. I congratulate all the three newly elected MPs Shri Pramod Tiwari, Shri Mukul Wasnik and Shri Randeep Surjewala. I am sure that all the three MPs will be able to strongly advocate the rights of Rajasthan in Delhi,” he tweeted.
Senior Congress leader Sachin Pilot, too, congratulated the candidates. “I extend my heartiest congratulations and best wishes to all the three candidates of the Congress party,” he tweeted. The counting of votes in Rajasthan was delayed by close to two hours around hours due to a delay in directions to start counting by the Election Commission.
The Congress was comfortably placed in the state until May 31, when the BJP said it would support Chandra for the fourth seat. It was a straight fight between Chandra and Tiwari with 13 independents, two Bharatiya Tribal Party (BTP) and six Bahujan Samaj Party-turned-Congress lawmakers playing a crucial role.
But Chandra, who won a Rajya Sabha seat six years ago from Haryana after 12 Congress votes were invalidated for using the wrong ink, couldn’t manage to get enough MLAs on his side.
Leader of opposition, Gulab Chand Kataria, said, “We had 71 votes, 43 went to Ghanshyam Tiwari, 27 to Subhash Chandra and one cross-voting by Shobharani Kushwa, who gave to Pramod Tiwari.” “We had issued a whip and she has violated it. We have suspended her from the party’s primary membership and notice has been issued to her, which she needs to reply to in seven days,” he added.
Chandra thanked everyone for the support. “A political connection has developed with Rajasthan, I will do whatever possible for me to help people,” he said.
The Congress high command had nominated three people who were seen as outsiders, going against Gehlot’s proposal to nominate some leaders from the state. “The CM was not happy but he told us that we have to follow the decision of the party high command and ensure victory for all three,” said a senior party leader aware of the developments.
On Thursday, Gehlot declared himself the party’s agent along with state unit chief Govind Singh Dotasara and said 126 lawmakers were supporting the government, including 11 independents and those from smaller parties such as Bharatiya Tribal Party (2), Communist Party of India Marxist (2) and Rashtriya Lok Dal (1). The BJP had 71 MLAs.
The numbers favoured the Congress but there were concerns that lawmakers who weren’t accommodated in the Cabinet or political appointments made in November-December last year could defect. To forestall such a possibility, the party sequestered its lawmakers at a resort in Udaipur for eight days.
Political observers said Gehlot saw the Rajya polls as an opportunity to show the party high command that he was still in full control of the state.
According to a senior Congress leader, a day after the Congress announced three nominees, Gehlot decided to meet all party MLAs and speak to them about the decision. “There was some resentment among MLAs that nobody from the state was nominated. The CM explained the reasons for the party decision,” he said, requesting anonymity.
When the Congress got information that the BJP was about to back Chandra, it decided to send the MLAs to a resort. “By taking them to Udaipur, Gehlot ensured that Chandra and his team could not get in touch with them as these MLAs were not provided access to phones,” a second party leader said, requesting anonymity.
Gehlot himself stayed at the Udaipur hotel for three days and interacted with the MLAs. “The CM ensured that their grievances regarding works in their constituencies are sorted out there and then,” the second leader quoted above added.
Gehlot was also able to win over two BTP lawmakers who had earlier not made their stance clear.
Earlier this week, Chandra even reached out to Pilot but was rebuffed. “Some advice to the “independent” candidate from Rajasthan — best to bow out of the contest before the voting on the 10 June. It’s better to lean towards humility rather than humiliation,” Pilot tweeted soon after.
Congress candidate Pramod Tiwari credited Gehlot for the victory. “The Congress got a total of 127 votes. One vote was rejected because of a minor thing,” he said, adding that it was the magic of CM Ashok Gehlot.
Senior Congress leader Mukul Wasnik said despite so many attempts by the BJP and offers to lure MLAs, everyone stood united and defeated their intentions. “I hope BJP will learn from this defeat as this election was imposed, the numbers were with Congress,” he said.
“Congress has 126 MLAs but got 127 votes, one was rejected due to a technical issue. An MLA of BJP above party line voted for Congress and good governance of Gehlot government,” said Randeep Surjewala.
BJP candidate Ghanshyam Tiwari thanked party leaders and MLAs.
