From Our Bureau
NEW DELHI: Eying the disquiet within the Congress fielding of “outsiders” instead of the “locals” from the state, the Bharatiya Janata Party has fielded more candidates than it is certain to win in the Rajya Sabha polls on June 10.
It has fielded one extra candidate each in Rajasthan, Haryana, Karnataka and Maharashtra and playing the game of poaching of the independents. Its direct tussle is with the Congress in the first three states and with the Shiv Sena in Maharashtra.
The BJP has fielded additional candidates, Dhananjay Mahadik in Maharashtra and Lahar Singh, while backing independents, Zee TV owner Subhash Chandra in Rajasthan and Kartikeya Sharma supported by a rebel Congress leader. The most interesting battle is in Karnataka where both parties are trying to corner the Janata Dal (S) for the fourth seat.
In Rajasthan, the Bahujan Samaj Party on Saturday issued a whip to its six MLAs,who had won on the BSP ticket but later joined the Congress, to vote for Subhash Chandra. Its state president Bhagwan Singh Baba, who issued the whip, claimed they had won in 2018 on the BSP symbol and so they are “bound to work as per the party whip.”
These MLAs had merged the BSP legislature party into the ruling Congress in September 2019 and one is even a minister in the Congress government. The Congress said their entire legislature party had merged into the Congress and as such they have to follow the Congress discipline as per the anti-defection law.
In Bengaluru, the Congress has issued a whip to all its MLAs to vote for the party candidates. Its state president D K Shivakumar has spoken to Janata Dal(S) leader and former prime minister HD Deve Gowda to withdraw its candidate Kupendra Reddy to enable the Congress win two seats.
Former union minister Jairam Ramesh of Congress is sure to win straight while the Congress leaders are confident that its second candidate Mansoor Ali Khan will sail through with the backing of the JD(S) or with the help of 71 second preference votes.
The Congress is worried that its candidate Imran Pratapgarhi, a poet from UP,may not be eliminated in close fight between the BJP and the Shiv Sena. Seven candidates are in the fray, four from the ruling Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) and three from the BJP. As part of the MVA, the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) wants the ruling grouping to help its national general secretary Praful Patel get back to the Rajya Sabha while the Congress is worried about its candidate who may be squeezed out because of the Shiv Sena of the grouping fielded two candidates — Sanjay Raut and Sanjay Pawar.
The fight for the sixth seat in Maharashtra is basically between BJP’s Mahadik and Sena’s Sanjay Pawar. In a bid to prevent poaching, the Congress is hearding its MLAs in a Mumbai hotel alike the Rajasthan MLAs camped in a Udaipur hotel that had hosted the Congress Chintan Shivir lat month and the Haryana MLAs taken to a Chhattisgarh resort.
