Amid fears of cross-voting in the June 10 Rajya Sabha polls, the Congress party in Haryana on Thursday shifted its MLAs to party-ruled Chhattisgarh to protect them from ‘poaching’ attempts. A party leader said here that the MLAs reached Raipur’s Swami Vivekananda airport in the evening in a special aircraft and left for a resort in Nava Raipur in two buses.
He was accompanied by party’s Rajya Sabha MP from Haryana Deepender Hooda. The local leader said the MLAs reached Hooda’s residence in Delhi earlier in the day and left for Raipur from the national capital. Sources said that 27 Congress MLAs from the northern state reached Raipur.
Two Rajya Sabha seats from Haryana will fall vacant in August as the term of media stalwart Subhash Chandra and BJP leader Dushyant Gautam, who were elected independents with BJP support, will end. The ruling BJP has fielded Krishan Lal Panwar for one of the two seats while the Congress has fielded Ajay Maken. With the entry of the third candidate – Kartikeya Sharma – as an Independent, the Congress is leaving no stone unturned to secure a Rajya Sabha seat. Looking at the numbers in the state assembly, BJP is ready to win one seat.
40 MLAs of Rajasthan Congress, some independents leave for Udaipur hotel
Around 40 MLAs of the Rajasthan Congress and some independents have left for a hotel in Udaipur as the party tries to keep its flock together ahead of the June 10 Rajya Sabha elections. Party sources said that the MLAs boarded a luxury bus from the Chief Minister’s residence at Civil Lines and left for Udaipur around 5 pm. The police team saved the bus.
The MLAs and other leaders, who attended a state Congress workshop at a hotel in Jaipur, were called to Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot’s residence for lunch. Sources said that after lunch, the MLAs boarded the bus and left for Udaipur.
Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot said the Congress needs to form the government in Madhya Pradesh and repeat its past success in his state and Chhattisgarh before facing the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. Addressing the concluding session of the two-day party workshop in Jaipur, the Chief Minister said that the Rajasthan government has started excellent schemes, but like BJP, there should be proper marketing at the grassroot level.
Gujarat Congress MLA shifts to Bengaluru
In June 2017, the Congress sent 44 of its Gujarat MLAs to a resort outside Bengaluru to prevent attempts at “poaching” by the BJP ahead of the Rajya Sabha elections. Party sources had said that Bengaluru was chosen because the Congress government was in Karnataka during that time.
Of the 57 Congress MLAs from Gujarat, from where senior party leader Ahmed Patel was contesting, six had resigned from the party in two days, three of whom joined the BJP.
Rajya Sabha elections 2020 in Gujarat
In 2020, ahead of the June 19 Rajya Sabha elections in Gujarat, the Congress again shifted its MLAs to various resorts in Gujarat, fearing poaching. Some MLAs gathered at Rajkot in Saurashtra, while others were at Abu Road in Rajasthan.
Leader of the Opposition, Paresh Dhanani, of these 17 MLAs from Saurashtra region said, “After meeting the local leaders in Gadda, the MLAs will leave for Dhari town in Amreli district.”
Congress transfers Rajasthan MLAs to Jaisalmer
During a political crisis in Rajasthan in 2020, the Congress moved around 50 Ashok Gehlot MLAs to a hotel on the Jaipur-Delhi highway after Sachin Pilot and 18 other Congress MLAs revolted against the government.
The MLAs were shifted to Jaisalmer in three chartered flights so that they remain united.
Congress’s plight in Karnataka
In 2019, the ruling coalition of Congress and Janata Dal (Secular) had shifted most of its MLAs to resorts or hotels in and around Bengaluru to keep the flock together. The move comes after some MLAs rebelled against the ruling alliance and resigned.
Meanwhile, most of the 13 MLAs who resigned had moved to a hotel in Mumbai. The MLAs later switched to the BJP camp after withdrawing support to the JD(S)-Congress alliance.
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