Chandigarh/Jaipur/Mumbai, June 8
Ahead of the Rajya Sabha elections on Friday, the Haryana BJP has shifted its MLAs to a resort near Chandigarh, while the state Congress is likely to move back its MLAs, who have been kept in Chhattisgarh on the day of polling.
Three candidates are in the fray for two Rajya Sabha seats from Haryana. The BJP has fielded Krishna Panwar and extended support to independent candidate Kartikeya Sharma, who also has the support of BJP’s ally Jannayak Janata Party (JJP).
Ajay Maken is a Congress candidate for the Rajya Sabha elections from Haryana.
Both the BJP and the Congress have claimed that they have enough numbers to ensure the victory of their candidates.
“All BJP MLAs from Haryana have been asked to reach Chandigarh by Wednesday evening so that a training session can be organized for them on the voting process of Rajya Sabha elections,” BJP’s Haryana unit president OP Dhankhar told reporters here.
Congress shifted its MLAs to a hotel in Raipur fearing poaching of its MLAs. Sources said they are expected to return to Chandigarh on Friday morning by a chartered flight.
Senior Congress leader Bhupinder Singh Hooda told PTI over phone, “We have enough numbers and our candidates will win comfortably.”
In Maharashtra, a special court reserved till Thursday its order on bail pleas of former Maharashtra Home Minister Anil Deshmukh and state minister Nawab Malik, seeking one day’s relief to cast their votes in the June 10 Rajya Sabha elections. Went.
This is the first time since 1998 that the Rajya Sabha elections will be contested in Maharashtra and every vote can prove to be important for the parties.
BJP leader Devendra Fadnavis, who tested COVID-19 positive a few days ago, will have to cast his vote at the end of the voting process if he continues to remain infected, an official said. Told.
Deshmukh and Malik, both NCP leaders who are currently in jail in connection with various money laundering cases, had sought temporary bail from a special court last week to vote in the RS elections. However, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Tuesday opposed his bail pleas, saying he did not have the right to vote under the Representation of the People Act.
Voting for six Rajya Sabha seats in Maharashtra will be held between 9 am and 4 pm. The ruling Shiv Sena has fielded two candidates, its Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) ally NCP and Congress have nominated one candidate each, while the opposition BJP has fielded three. In the sixth seat, there is a contest between Dhananjay Mahadik of BJP and Sanjay Pawar of Shiv Sena.
Union ministers Piyush Goyal, Anil Bonde, Dhananjay Mahadik (BJP), Sanjay Raut, Sanjay Pawar (Shiv Sena), Praful Patel (NCP), Imran Pratapgarhi (Congress) are in the fray.
The contest is for the sixth seat, where 25 MLAs from smaller parties and independent candidates are crucial.
In Karnataka, talks between the Congress and the JD(S) to defeat the ruling BJP for the fourth seat have reached a stalemate, with both parties sticking to their respective stand.
JD(S) leader HD Kumaraswamy had offered to trade second preference votes with the Congress, pointing out that former prime minister HD Deve Gowda was elected to the Rajya Sabha with its support in June 2020 and was part of the regional party. It was time for return the Favour.
Six candidates are in the fray for the Rajya Sabha elections for four seats in Karnataka, requiring a fierce fight for the fourth seat.
All three political parties in the state- BJP, Congress and JD(S) have fielded candidates for the seat, despite not having enough votes to win the fourth seat from the state assembly, forcing an election. .
“When Deve Gowda had contested for Rajya Sabha last time (2020), we did not field a candidate. We also made Kumaraswamy the chief minister. Now, if you really want to defeat the BJP then support us,” Congress leader Siddaramaiah said.
Responding to Siddaramaiah’s claims of supporting Deve Gowda, Kumaraswamy said it was the then Chief Minister BS Yediyurappa who had first approached him and conveyed the BJP high command’s decision not to field a candidate against his father, as he was a former Wanted the PM in the Upper House of the Parliament. ,
Speaking to reporters in Mysore, Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai said that the BJP has enough votes to contest all the three seats.
“There is no offer from the BJP side and the party can win with its votes. We have nothing to do with the offer game of Congress and JD(S). Rajasthan is also in the grip of resort politics, with both the Congress and the BJP leveling poaching charges against each other.
Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot on Wednesday once again accused the BJP of trying horse-trading and asked why the party supported the candidature of media baron Subhash Chandra when it did not have the numbers to win the seat.
Days after Congress shifted its MLAs to a hotel in Udaipur fearing horse-trading, Gehlot said the party is united and all three Congress candidates will win the Rajya Sabha polls.
Referring to the support of MLAs of other parties and independents, he said, “We have the support of 126 MLAs for three seats.
Questioning the BJP’s support to Chandra, Gehlot said, “The intention to indulge in horse-trading has been there from the very beginning. The Congress shifted its MLAs to the luxury Taj Aravalli Resort and Spa on June 2, while the BJP also confiscated its MLAs at the Devi Ratna Hotel in Jamdoli, Jaipur, but the party is calling it a “training camp”. .
Videos and pictures from the Congress camp show the MLAs enjoying cultural evenings, sports activities and magic shows.
The Aam Aadmi Party claimed that the ruling Congress in Rajasthan wants to send Chandra to the Rajya Sabha and shifting the party’s MLAs to a resort in Udaipur is a “dizziness”.
AAP leader Vinay Mishra alleged that the state’s ruling party wants its candidate Pramod Tiwari to lose the election.
Meanwhile, Rajasthan minister Govind Ram Meghwal, who was staying at the Udaipur resort along with other Congress MLAs, was allegedly threatened over the phone by a man who demanded Rs 70 lakh from him.
Inspector General of Police (Bikaner) Omprakash said the caller has been identified as Sethi Ram alias Sunil Bishnoi who was traced from Malaysia. Security has been tightened outside the minister’s residence in Vyas Colony.
Meghwal later returned to Jaipur from Udaipur with Chief Minister Gehlot on Wednesday.
Also on Wednesday, Haryana Police arrested a person named Kanwra Ram from Barmer in Rajasthan for allegedly threatening Haryana Congress MLA Kuldeep Bishnoi.
Police said here that the accused has been identified as Kanwra Ram, who has been arrested from Barmer in Rajasthan.
Bishnoi had received death threats from an unidentified person on his mobile phone on Tuesday, following which an FIR was registered.
He is the younger son of former Haryana Chief Minister Bhajan Lal.