RS polls 'poaching': Rajasthan Congress shifting MLAs to Udaipur hotel
Ahead of the Rajya Sabha (RS) elections, the Indian National Congress (INC) will shift its Rajasthan legislators to a hotel in Udaipur to avoid poaching by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), PTI reported. Independent legislators and those belonging to other parties and supporting the Congress will also be shifted to the same hotel in Udaipur where the party's "Chintan Shivir" was held last month.
Why does this story matter?
Elections for 57 RS seats will be held on June 10. Eleven seats will fall vacant from Uttar Pradesh, six members each will retire from Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu, five from Bihar, and four each from Rajasthan, Andhra Pradesh, and Karnataka. Three members each from Odisha and Madhya Pradesh, two each from Chhattisgarh, Telangana, Punjab, Haryana, and Jharkhand, and one from Uttarakhand will retire.
Subhash Chandra files nomination as independent
The Congress has decided to take the extreme step a day after Zee Media founder Subhash Chandra filed nomination papers as an independent. This prompted Rajasthan CM Ashok Gehlot to allege that the BJP wanted to indulge in horse-trading. Chandra, who is backed by the BJP, is currently a Rajya Sabha member from Haryana and his term is going to expire on August 1.
Congress set to win two out of four Rajasthan seats
Congress has 108 MLAs in the Rajasthan Assembly and is set to win two of the four vacant RS seats from Rajasthan. Following this, it will have a surplus of 26 votes, but 15 less than the 41 required to win the third seat. Meanwhile, the BJP with 71 MLAs in the Assembly will win one seat and be left with 30 surplus votes.
Dissent in Congress over fielding members from outside states
There is considerable dissent within the party after Congress fielded Ajay Maken from Haryana and Mukul Wasnik, Randeep Singh Surjewala, and Pramod Tiwari from Rajasthan. On Tuesday, Gehlot and Congress candidates met with 10 of 13 independent MLAs in Rajasthan. Meanwhile, the BJP will meet its MLAs meeting on Sunday and then take them to a hotel in Jaipur for camping, said reports.
6 BSP MLAs had defected to Congress in 2019
To recall, six Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) MLAs from Rajasthan had defected to the Congress in 2019. On Wednesday, the BSP asked Rajasthan Governor Kalraj Mishra and Assembly Speaker CP Joshi to debar the six MLAs from voting as a case under the Anti-Defection Law was going on against them in the Supreme Court, which the Rajasthan Congress opposed.
Trouble for Congress in Haryana too
The Congress in Haryana is also contemplating the idea of moving all the party MLAs to Chhattisgarh to prevent poaching by the BJP-backed independent candidate Kartikeya Sharma. Apart from the surplus BJP votes, Sharma is likely to get votes from the Jannayak Janata Party (JJP). The Congress has 31 seats in the 90-member Haryana Assembly, and a single vote can alter its equations.
