by Quaid Najmi
Mumbai, June 7 | With barely 72 hours left for the June 10 Rajya Sabha elections in Maharashtra, all parties resorted to grazing and hiding their MLAs to prevent a possible ‘political abduction’ by the opposite party here on Tuesday.
As it became clear that smaller parties and independents held the proverbial key to the end result for both the ruling Maha Vikas Aghadi and the opposition Bharatiya Janata Party, each side blamed each on the full extent of ‘poaching’ and ‘horse-trading’. Make allegations. Others add to the excitement of generally indirect elections.
Unwilling to take any risk, MVA allies – Shiv Sena-Nationalist Congress Party-Congress – and BJP have ordered their valued MLAs to “pack their bags” and come to Mumbai to ‘retreat’ till the RS election. Which can also extend till June 20 Legislative Council elections.
They are being hosted in the opulent ambiance of deluxe hotels or resorts as top leaders from both sides spin their minds to ensure the victory of their respective candidates.
The main fight will be for the ‘sixth seat’ for which Shiv Sena candidate Sanjay Pawar will be pitted against BJP candidate Dhananjay Mahadik, both party stalwarts from Kolhapur.
The Maharashtra Legislative Assembly, consisting of 288 members, consists of an electoral college and each candidate needs 42 votes to win the Upper House of Parliament.
This time, the election has turned into a cliff-hanger, with the appearance of the seventh candidate put up by the BJP despite the changed permutations and combinations after the October 2019 assembly elections.
Given the current numbers commanded by both sides – the MVA and the BJP, the latter needs around 12 votes to ensure an easy sail for Mahadik.
Barring this, the MVA allies can easily elect one of their candidates while the BJP can get 2 elected with its current strength.
This time, Shiv Sena has fielded Sanjay Pawar for the ‘sixth seat’, which BJP’s Mahadik is contesting, where smaller parties and independents can play an important role.
MVA leaders have already accused BJP of bulldozing tactics with “money-force” and “threat” of big brothers like ED, IT, CBI, etc.
Top MVA leaders, refusing to be quoted, claimed that looking at the numbers game, “BJP is fighting a losing battle” only to keep its central leaders in good humour, while the BJP side blinks. Argues that “surprises can’t be ruled out”, as soon as the clock ticks down for E-Day on Friday.
Shiv Sena’s chief spokesperson Sanjay Raut – one of the contestants – slammed the BJP for criticizing the party’s move to flock to all its MLAs, while a confident Parliamentary Affairs Minister Anil Parab assured that “2019 All those who supported us are still with us.”, alluding to the victory of Sanjay Pawar.
State NCP president Jayant Patil and Congress president Nana Patole on Tuesday reiterated that the MVA will win the four RS seats it is contesting and thwart the BJP’s third seat-grabbing plan, though it has the numbers. There is a shortage.
Congress and NCP chief spokespersons Atul Londhe and Mahesh Taapsee respectively clarified that “BJP’s horse-trading market” will flop as the three parties and all their supporters are fully united to challenge the BJP.
Taapsee said, “We came to power in 2019 and since then we have fought and won all the elections together.
The four parties are now busy supporting their respective MLAs and MLAs of independents or smaller parties on the RS election process to avoid confusion in important preferential votes, importance of ‘party whip’ etc.
(Maybe Najmi can be contacted at q.najmi@ians.in)
Source: IANS
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