The Opposition Bharatiya Janata Party in Rajasthan shifted its MLAs on Monday to a camp in a hotel at Jamdoli, on the outskirts of Jaipur, for imparting training to them for polling in the upcoming Rajya Sabha elections. The decision followed a similar move by the ruling Congress, which has sequestered its legislators in a resort near Udaipur.
The BJP, which has 71 members in the State Assembly, is set to win one seat, after which it will be left with 30 surplus votes. Besides fielding former Minister Ghanshyam Tiwari as its official candidate, the party has extended support to media baron Subhash Chandra, contesting as an Independent.
The BJP MLAs reached the party’s State headquarters at Sardar Patel Marg here, from where they were taken to the hotel in two buses. As many as 64 of the 71 legislators reached the training camp by late evening. Union Minister Narendra Singh Tomar and BJP’s State in-charge Arun Singh met them at the hotel.
BJP State president Satish Poonia said the senior leaders would hold demonstrations at the camp to apprise the MLAs of the polling process. “Several of our MLAs have been elected for the first time. They need to be trained in casting their votes. Lectures will also be organised for the legislators, throwing light on the party’s history, principles and the ideology of cultural nationalism,” he said.
Mr. Poonia denied that the camp had any shape of barabandi (sequestering) to keep the flock together. “It is the Congress which has resorted to this tactic with a false claim that their MLAs were being lured through horse-trading. The Congress government in Rajasthan is a complete failure and the Chief Minister somehow wants to save his chair,” he said.
Leader of Opposition in the State Assembly Gulab Chand Kataria said there was “nothing wrong” with the MLAs staying together till the day of polling. Mr. Kataria claimed that several Congress and independent MLAs were in touch with him and were willing to do “cross-voting” to ensure the victory of Mr. Tiwari and Mr. Chandra.
The Congress has claimed the support of 126 MLAs, including 108 from the party itself. The ruling party, which has fielded Mukul Wasnik, Randeep Surjewala and Pramod Tiwari as its candidates, needs first-preference votes of 123 MLAs for their victory.
