Amid cross-voting fears in Rajya Sabha polls, Odisha Congress moves MLAs to Bengaluru resort

Congress legislature party leader Ramachandra Kadam accused the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party of horse trading ahead of the Rajya Sabha polls. “The MLAs who are in Bhubaneswar will not indulge in cross voting,” said Kadam.

The eight MLAs and their families have been sent to Wonderla Resort in the Bidadi region of Bengaluru South district, where Karnataka Deputy CM D K Shivakumar is known to hold political sway. The Odisha MLAs are under the care of the Congress Karnataka DCM, sources said.

Among the MLAs are Mangu Khilla, Pabitra Saunta, Kadraka Appala Swamy, CS Raazen Ekka, Prafulla Pradhan, Ashok Kumar Das, Nilamadhab Hikaka and Sathyajeet Gomango. All MLAs will return to Bhubaneswar together late Sunday evening ahead of the Rajya Sabha voting scheduled Monday.

Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister D K Shivakumar — who is also the Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee president — said Odisha Congress chief Bhakta Charan Das had asked him to “shelter” the MLAs ahead of the March 16 Rajya Sabha polls.

“When they said they were coming, I said they could come. They wanted a comfortable place and we arranged,” Shivakumar said. “I have to do what the party tells me to do. This happens in all states, it isn’t new.”

Before moving the legislators to the Bengaluru resort, the Congress issued a three-line whip asking MLAs to remain present in Bhubaneswar and not leave headquarters from March 13 to 16.

BJD president and former chief minister Naveen Patnaik has also begun efforts to keep his party’s flock together. The BJD chief has written to party MLAs asking them to attend a two-hour meeting every evening for three days from Friday at Naveen Niwas, his residence.

According to Patnaik’s letter to BJD MLAs, there will be a presentation and training programme for legislators on the Rajya Sabha poll procedure and the process of casting votes.

“A contest in the Rajya Sabha election in Odisha is being held after 12 years. The last time, it was held in February 2014. There are many MLAs who don’t know the process of casting votes and it’s important to impart training to them on the poll process and how to cast their votes so they won’t be rejected,” said a senior BJD leader.

A day before the poll, Patnaik is scheduled to chair a BJD legislature party meeting at his residence. BJD leaders said all the party’s 48 MLAs are united and will vote as per the decision of the party president.

BJD sources said the former chief minister does not want to leave any chance of keeping the legislature party united ahead of the key voting. Patnaik on Thursday met the party’s Basta MLA Subasini Jena at Naveen Niwas, whose husband and former BJD MP Rabindra Jena joined the BJP a day earlier.

Subasini said she met Patnaik to discuss matters related to her constituency and that she still considers him her leader. She did not directly respond to queries on whom she will vote for in the Rajya Sabha election.

The BJD and Congress have tied up for the fourth seat and fielded noted urologist Datteswar Hota as their “common candidate”. Hotelier and former Union minister Dilip Ray has entered the race as an Independent candidate with support from the BJP.

According to Shivakumar, Hota requires 30 votes to win, while the BJD-Congress combine has 32 votes, apart from one Communist Party of India (Marxist) MLA.

“The BJP is attempting to poach eight first-time Congress MLAs from the 14 Odisha Congress MLAs and these eight MLAs are being sheltered in Bengaluru before the polls,” a Congress source said.

Four Rajya Sabha seats in Odisha will go to polls on March 16. Given the strength of parties in the state Assembly, the BJP has enough MLAs to secure at least two seats, while the BJD has the numbers for one, leaving the fourth seat up for grabs. Currently, the BJP and BJD hold two seats each.

In the 147-member Odisha Assembly, the ruling BJP has 79 MLAs and also enjoys the support of three Independents. The main Opposition BJD has 48 MLAs after recently suspending two legislators for alleged anti-party activities. The Congress has 14 MLAs, while the CPI(M) has one. As per the Election Commission’s formula for electing Rajya Sabha MPs, a candidate needs at least 30 first-preference valid votes to win each seat.