Former Rajasthan deputy chief minister Sachin Pilot is confident of Congress candidates winning Rajya Sabha elections in Rajasthan and Haryana even as the BJP is supporting independent contenders.
Voting for four Rajya Sabha seats in Rajasthan and two in Haryana will be held on Friday. The Congress is assured of winning two seats in Rajasthan and the BJP one, but both parties will be contesting for the fourth seat. The BJP is certain of winning one seat in Haryana and the two parties are vying for the second seat.
News 18 aired an interview of Pilot on Thursday morning. Pilot defended the Congress's decision to huddle its MLAs at a resort, for the purpose of preventing cross-voting.
Pilot told News 18 “There’s no fear. All MLAs wanted to stay together. There was no coercion or forceful attempt. Unfortunately, almost all parties in almost all states need to do this. We can’t be proud of it, but unfortunately due to the circumstances created... we have to resort to doing this. We have more than enough numbers to ensure that all our three candidates sail through, even in Haryana.”
Pilot claimed the Congress had “surplus” votes in Rajasthan and all three of its candidates “will sail through”. He told News 18 “126 out of 200 are supporting us… we may get more.” He even added the Congress had support of 136 MLAs in Rajasthan.
Pilot explained the Congress's determination to win the Rajya Sabha polls. “... we are a national party and accordingly have to look at interests across the country... We need strong voices in the upper house, Rajya Sabha is supposed to be a sounding board. This numbers game is a recent phenomena.” He also defended the Congress's decision to choose non-natives to contest from Rajasthan.
“These people need to be in Upper House to constitute a strong opposition. And there is no rule that they need to be from that state. This decision was taken in consultation with leadership, state leaders, AICC leaders. We picked talent we feel is useful for the party,” Pilot told News 18.
