Congress parks Haryana, Rajasthan MLAs in safe houses

The Gandhis-Vadra-dictated AICC decision to field their loyalists for the winnable Rajya Sabha seats from states where these nominees have no geographical and political connect has turned the Rajya Sabha elections in Rajasthan and Haryana into a high-voltage poaching operation with the BJP on the prowl, forcing the Congress regional satraps to shift the MLAs to far off safe sanctuaries. While the Rajasthan Congress and its supporting MLAs are being shifted from Jaipur to an Udaipur hotel, their Haryana counterparts were first moved to Delhi and then flown to Raipur, capital of Congress-ruled Chhattisgarh.

While more than a week remains for the June 10 RS polls, the Congress side appears to be slipping in the optics given the desperate measures they have to resort to shield their flocks and the fortune of ‘bahari’ (outsider) candidates, that too in states where Congress numbers are delicately poised, even as the BJP side, so far, is staying put in their respective home pitches.

Amid murmurs of three Independent MLAs and Bharatiya Tribal Party’s (BTP) two legislators taking a dim view of the AICC foisting “outsider candidates” and thus distancing, at l t as of now, from the Congress camp and with the BJP eagerly courting them, the burden of the ‘bahari’ candidates imposed by the Congress high command, and the slippery situation it has created, has made CM Ashok Gehlot shoulder the task of trying another ‘Operation Salvage’, two years after he pulled off one by shifting MLAs to Jaisalmer to ward off the ill-fated rebellion by Sachin Pilot camp along side the then BJP’s toppling bid. The BSP leadership added to the Congress task now by writing to the Governor and the Speaker, urging them not to let ‘its’ six MLAs who had joined the Congress amid a legal tussle, vote in the RS poll.


Both Gehlot and Pilot expressed confidence that the Congress MLAs and their supporters would remain united to ensure the victory of all three party RS candidates.

Even as Haryana Congress MLAs were taken to the Raipur shelters, there were reports that at least two of the party MLAs were absent in the Delhi get together before the take off. The Gandhis-picked Ajay Maken needed at least 30 votes (Congress has 31 MLAs) to survive the challenge. “All the 31 Congress MLAs are united and we have sufficient numbers to ensure the victory of Congress RS candidate,” said opposition leader BS Hooda.