KOLKATA: Ahead of the July 18 Presidential elections, the BJP in West Bengal shifted its 69 MLAs to a private hotel in Kolkata’s outskirts on Sunday.
A total of 69 BJP MLAs were taken to the hotel which is said to be the first of its kind in the history of Bengal’s politics.
Sources in the BJP said the party wanted to ensure the votes of 69 MLAs would be in support of NDA’s candidate Draupadi Murmu.
The saffron camp, however, officially said that the MLAs would be given a training session about how to cast their votes in the Presidential elections on Sunday before they would go to the Assembly on Monday.
A section of the BJP leaders, however, expressed surprise over shifting the MLAs to the private hotel. "Training is not required for voting in Presidential elections. The MLAs could have been allowed to stay at the MLA hostel. It appears, party wants to ensure all its MLAs will vote for NDA’s candidate,’’ said a senior BJP leader.