Bhubaneswar: Ahead of polling for the biennial Rajya Sabha elections for four seats from Odisha, the BJD on Monday shared pictures, sending across a clear message of unity within the party MLAs.
While the Congress moved eight of its 14 MLAs to a private resort in Bengaluru, the BJD held two-hour meetings at party president Naveen Patnaik’s residence every evening for three day in the run up to the elections, amid possibility of cross-voting as neither the ruling BJP nor the Opposition has the required numbers to win the fourth seat.
On Sunday, the BJD, however, found two of its MLAs – Chakramani Kanhar (Baliguda) and Naba Kishore Mallick (Jayadev) skipping the meeting and served them show-cause notices. They were asked to report at Naveen Niwas by 9 pm.
Naveen had earlier accused the BJP of resorting to horse-trading to ensure the victory of its three candidates in the upcoming polls. Besides state unit president Manmohan Samal, and sitting MP Sujeet Kumar, the saffron party is supporting former Union Minister Dilip Ray, who is also contesting as an Independent.
Also Read: Rajya Sabha Elections: Test For Opposition Unity In Odisha As BJP Eyes Extra Seat
In the 147-member Assembly, the BJP holds a commanding position with 82 votes (79 MLAs plus three supporting independents) and is poised to comfortably claim two seats. The BJD, with its 48 MLAs, can comfortably secure victory for its primary candidate Santrupt Misra through at least 30 first-preference votes. The outcome for the fourth of four seats hangs in the balance and has turned into a major prestige showdown between the opposition’s joint candidate, Dr Datteswar Hota, and the BJP-backed independent, Dilip Ray. Hota’s chances depend on securing the backing of the 14 Congress MLAs, the lone CPI(M) legislator, and the remaining BJD MLAs, provided no defections occur.
Therefore, as voting commenced at the Odisha Legislative Assembly at 9 am, all eyes were on MLAs, who may abstain or defy the party whip.
Both Congress and BJD have issued strict three-line whips to its MLAs.
Trouble In Congress
While Congress MLA, Bhagirathi Gomago (Mohana), went incommunicado after being asked to travel to Bengaluru, Barabati-Cuttack MLA Sofia Firdous expressed reservations on supporting Hota, put up by BJD as the common candidate. “… The Congress party extended its support to the candidate only after former Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik announced his support. How can this be a common candidate? He is a BJD candidate… If the Congress party is in this condition in Odisha today, the reason for that is the BJD itself,” she earlier told the media.
In his response to the show-cause notice later, Gomago also asserted that he would vote according to his conscience.
In a letter addressed to Sujit Kumar Padhi, Chairperson of the Odisha Pradesh Congress Disciplinary Committee, the Mohana MLA stated a party whip does not apply during Rajya Sabha elections. He further argued voting for a candidate other than the one supported by the party cannot be treated as indiscipline while citing the Supreme Court judgment in the Kuldeep Nayar vs Government of India case and a directive issued by the Election Commission in 2017. He further claimed Congress MLAs were not consulted before the decision to extend support to Hota was taken.
Interestingly while filing his nomination on March 5, Ray had expressed confidence in securing “conscience votes”, a term often used to justify cross-voting in Rajya Sabha polls.
Congress on Sunday also accused the BJP of trying to influence the legislators as part of “Operation Lotus” by offering them Rs 5 crore to cross-vote in favour of a candidate backed by the party after four persons spotted in Mysuru resort, where party MLAs were staying, were arrested.
