Rajya Sabha polls: BJP’s daylong training for Haryana MLAs on Thursday

Vibha Sharma

Advertisement

New Delhi, June 8

The BJP state leadership is leaving nothing to chance to ensure “zero error” in voting when its MLAs vote to elect new representatives to the Rajya Sabha from Haryana on Friday.

The party has asked all its MLAs to attend a “training camp” in Chandigarh on Thursday, state party chief Om Prakash Dhankar said, exuding confidence for the victory of party candidate Krishan Lal Panwar.

The two seats will fall vacant on August 1 with media baron Subhash Chandra (who is now contesting from Rajasthan) and BJP general secretary Dushyant Gautam completing their terms.

Dhankar said BJP has 40 votes, while 31 MLAs will vote for Panwar, nine MLAs will support independent candidate and media baron Kartikeya Sharma.

Trying to keep its flock together, the Congress has shifted its MLAs to Raipur.

Insisting that the BJP MLAs have been called to Chandigarh “only for training”, Dhankar said there was a difference with what Congress is doing. “The aim of the one-day camp is to familiarise MLAs with the process of voting as there are some first-timers,” he added.

Though the Congress has 31 MLAs, one more than the required numbers, Kuldeep Bishnoi’s recent actions and utterances have given it reasons to worry. The Congress MLA from Adampur said he will vote “as per his conscience than follow the directives of the high command”. He also met Haryana CM ML Khattar, though, as per Dhankar, it was “over some issues related to his constituency”.

“He will decide what he wants, everyone can see the way he has been sidelined by the Congress,” Dhankar added.

The 10 MLAs of BJP’s ally JJP are also expected to support Sharma.

“It is for them to decide, but usually they do not go with the Congress,” said Dhankar. The BJP which is running the state government with the JJP needs the support of 31 MLAs while the Congress needs 30 MLAs to ensure win for their respective candidates.

While Congress’s official tally of MLAs in the Haryana assembly is 31, one more than the number required to ensure a win for its candidate Ajay Maken, factionalism and last-minute entry of former Congress leader Venod Sharma’s son Kartikeya Sharma have exposed the fault-lines within the party.