Rajya Sabha Elections: Congress alleges BJP attempted poaching, moves Madhya Pradesh MLA to Bengaluru | Today’s news
The Congress has reportedly shifted 35 of its 62 MLAs in Madhya Pradesh to Bengaluru following alleged poaching attempts by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) ahead of the Rajya Sabha elections. These MLAs are eligible to vote in the June 18 Rajya Sabha polls.
The first batch of 35 MLAs left for Bengaluru with their family members on a chartered flight. “The rest will leave by the evening,” state Congress Media Cell chairman Mukesh Nayak told PTI.
Nayak said Leader of Opposition in Madhya Pradesh Assembly Umang Singhar accompanied the MLA.
The Congress has decided to shift its MLAs to the party-dominated Karnataka to keep its flock together and prevent cross-voting, another leader said on Tuesday.
Rajya Sabha numbers game in MP
The 230-member Madhya Pradesh Assembly forms the electoral college for the June 18 elections to the upper house of parliament.
With an effective assembly strength of 229, a candidate needs 58 first preference votes to win.
BJP has 164 MLAs and Congress 64, while Bharat Adivasi Party has one seat. However, the opposition party’s actual tally is 62 as Congress leader Rajendra Bharti’s membership as a legislator from Datia constituency was canceled and the Supreme Court barred Mukesh Malhotra, Congress MLA from Vijaypur, from voting.
How many Rajya Sabha seats can BJP, Congress win? TThe ruling BJP, which has 164 MLAs, is assured of winning two seats with 116 votes, while the Congress, which has 62 MLAs, can win one seat.
The BJP initially fielded its national general secretary Tarun Chugh and state unit secretary Rajneesh Agrawal.
It subsequently fielded Mahesh Kewat, chairman of the Madhya Pradesh Fishermen’s Welfare Committee, as the third candidate, giving the election a twist.
The Congress has nominated former MP Meenakshi Natarajan as its sole candidate.
Congress veteran Digvijaya Singh, who vacated the third seat after completing his second term in the Rajya Sabha, said the BJP was trying to defeat a woman candidate while claiming to support reservation for women in legislatures.
“The BJP made big claims about implementing the Women’s Reservation Act, but in reality it was always against it. When the then Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi introduced women’s reservation in Pachayati Raj bodies, the party was against it. Even the RSS is against women because no woman can become a ‘Pracharak’ in the RSS,” he was quoted as saying by PTI.
“So today, when the Congress fielded a woman candidate at the third position, the BJP has fielded a woman candidate against it, which it expelled from the party in 2022. This exposed the BJP and its discipline,” Singh said.
“Our 62 MLAs will ensure the victory of the Congress candidate with their full strength… Meenakshi Natarajan will get all 62 votes and more,” the former chief minister said.
“BJP tries to buy Congress MLAs”
The Congress Legislature Party met at Singhar’s residence late on Monday night and the legislators were consulted on the proposal to shift them from Madhya Pradesh, sources told PTI.
As many as 60 MLAs attended the meeting, they said, adding that one MLA did not attend as he was in Delhi, while senior leader Kamal Nath participated online.
Speaking to PTI, LoP Singhar alleged that BJP was trying to “buy” Congress MLAs.
Some party MLAs told him that BJP members approached them with “bags full of notes” but they rejected them, he said, adding that the BJP’s “conspiracies” would fail on polling day.
Yadavendra Singh, another state Congress legislator, said some MLAs were not in favor of eviction, but since it was the decision of the party high command, they were all moved.
He reiterated allegations that the BJP was trying to poach Congress MLAs.
