Ahead of the June 18 Rajya Sabha elections, the Madhya Pradesh Congress on Tuesday alleged poaching attempts by the BJP and decided to move its MLAs to Congress-ruled Karnataka to prevent cross-voting and maintain unity within the party camp.
The 230-member Madhya Pradesh Assembly forms the electoral college for the Rajya Sabha polls. With the House’s effective strength currently at 229, a candidate needs 58 first-preference votes to secure a seat in the Upper House.
The BJP, which has 164 MLAs, is comfortably placed to win two of the three vacant seats. It has fielded party national general secretary Tarun Chugh and state unit secretary Rajneesh Agrawal, requiring 116 votes to secure both seats. The party later announced Mahesh Kewat, chairman of the Madhya Pradesh Fishermen Welfare Board, as its third candidate, adding intrigue to the contest.
The Congress has nominated former MP Meenakshi Natarajan and remains confident of retaining sufficient support to ensure her victory.
The Congress Legislature Party (CLP) met late Monday night at the residence of Leader of Opposition Umang Singhar, where legislators discussed a proposal to relocate MLAs outside the state until polling day, sources said.
Confirming the move, Saunsar MLA Vijay Revanath Choure told PTI that all Congress legislators were being shifted to Bengaluru in Congress-ruled Karnataka. Congress MLAs Yadavendra Singh and Babu Jandel also confirmed the development.
Speaking to PTI, Singhar accused the BJP of attempting to poach Congress MLAs and said the party would move its legislators to a Congress-ruled state.
He claimed some party MLAs told him that BJP members approached them with "bags full of notes," but they turned them away.
The BJP's "conspiracies" will fail on the voting day, the Congress leader asserted.
Yadavendra Singh said some legislators had reservations about relocating but agreed to comply with the party leadership’s directive. He claimed the BJP was attempting to poach them, so the party's top leaders decided to keep the MLAs together in a Congress-ruled state.
Congress leaders have alleged that the BJP is attempting to create divisions within the party camp.
Of the three Rajya Sabha seats, the BJP is comfortably positioned to win two, while the Congress appears numerically stronger for the third.
Nearly 60 Congress MLAs attended the CLP meeting at Singhar’s residence on Monday night. One legislator was absent due to being in Delhi, while senior Congress leader Kamal Nath joined virtually.
The Assembly’s effective strength stands at 229, with the BJP holding 164 seats, Congress 64, and the Bharat Adivasi Party one. One seat remains vacant after Congress MLA Rajendra Bharti’s membership from Datia was revoked.
Complicating the Congress’s arithmetic, the Madhya Pradesh High Court has barred Mukesh Malhotra, Congress MLA from Vijaypur in Sheopur district, from voting in the Rajya Sabha election.
Separately, a petition seeking the disqualification of Bina MLA Nirmala Sapre is pending before the High Court. Sapre is expected to support the BJP candidate and met Chief Minister Mohan Yadav on Monday.
Even if the Congress tally falls to 62, the party would still remain four votes above the required threshold of 58 for victory.
After allocating 116 votes to secure two seats, the BJP would be left with 48 votes, insufficient to independently clinch the third seat.
The Congress appears to be taking precautions amid memories of the 2020 political crisis, when the BJP toppled the Kamal Nath government after Jyotiraditya Scindia and 22 Congress MLAs switched sides.
(With inputs from PTI)
