The opposition Bharatiya Janata Party has decided to contest two out of three Rajya Sabha seats in Madhya Pradesh that will go to polls on March 26.
Going by the numbers in the state assembly, the BJP (with 107 members) will require support of nine additional MLAs to win a second seat to Rajya Sabha.
The decision of the BJP comes amid high political drama in the state where the party is facing allegations of attempting to pull down the Congress-led government by luring ruling party legislators.
A meeting of the state level election committee of the BJP chaired by party state president Vishnu Dutta Sharma was held in Bhopal on Sunday, following which Sharma announced the decision to contest two seats ‘keeping in view the possibilities in future’.
He also said that a panel of preliminary names has been sent to the central election committee for final decision on the candidates.
Sharma’s statement becomes interesting in view of the current political turmoil in the state where three Congress MLAs remain ‘missing’ following what was construed as a failed attempt of the BJP to pull down the government.
This is keeping the Congress—that has 114 members in the house—on the tenterhooks not only about the upcoming Rajya Sabha polls but also regarding stability of the state government.
Going by the statistics, the Congress and the BJP are sure to win one RS seat each out of the three up for polls. The tussle is for the third seat. The Congress has had support of four independents, two BSP and one SP members that takes its tally in the house to 121. Two seats are currently vacant in the 228-member house. Candidates will require minimum 58 votes to win a seat in the house. Thus to win a second seat BJP will require support of nine additional MLAs apart from its own members.
As for the Congress, if all of its members vote, it will require support of only two additional members to win a second seat. Independent MLA Pradeep Jaiswal is already a minister and thus his support is sure. The BSP, the SP and three other independents have also renewed their support to the government during the political turmoil of last week. Thus the Congress is on a steady ground despite the unsure situation regarding three of its MLAs—Hardeep Singh Dang, Bisahulal Singh and Raghuraj Kansana – who continue to be ‘missing’ even five days after the political drama unfolded.
Also BJP MLA Narayan Tripathi, who voted earlier with the Congress, has been in touch with Chief Minister Kamal Nath and the assembly speaker for the past few days and this is adding to the complexity of the entire situation.
Congress candidate selection to be impacted
The current situation is also likely to impact the candidate selection by the Congress for Rajya Sabha polls. There had been speculations that the Congress might accommodate some leader from outside Madhya Pradesh on one of the two seats that it is likely to win.
But given the role of Digvijaya Singh in tiding over the recent crisis, he is likely to be retained by the party as a candidate, while there is said to be almost unanimity over the name of Jyotiraditya Scindia to be the other candidate.
The ruling party is likely to take maximum time for selection of candidates and keep its cards close to chest till the last date of nomination on March 13, political watchers feel.
