Gehlot pulls estranged BTP MLAs out of hat in bid to scuttle Chandra’s RS bid

However, the Congress, which has been leaving no stone unturned to deny the BJP-supported independent candidate and media baron Subhash Chandra a Rajya Sabha berth, managed to clinch a rapprochement with the tribal party, which said it has pledged its support to the Congress for the Rajya Sabha polls after securing an assurance that “the government will look positively at issues impacting the tribal community” in the state.

“We met the Chief Minister yesterday and decided to support the Congress in the Rajya Sabha elections. We want the government to adopt a positive attitude towards the injustices that have taken place with tribals. They told us that they will reconsider the false cases registered against tribal people during the Kakri Dungri incident,” the BTP MLA from Sagwara, Ramprasad Dindor, told The Indian Express on Wednesday.

In September 2020, a protest by tribal youths demanding recruitment in government teaching jobs in the tribal-dominated Dungarpur district had turned violent, resulting in police action. The BTP has maintained that people from the tribal community were implicated in false cases in that episode, which should be withdrawn.

When asked about the BTP candidate’s defeat due to the Congress and the BJP’s joint operation in the Dungarpur Zila Pramukh polls, Dindor said, “What the party did is before everyone to see but the BTP has decided to support the Congress after taking into account the welfare of tribal areas in the state.”

However, the two BTP MLAs have not checked into the resort in Udaipur, where the Congress and independent legislators have been sequestered, and have instead chosen to stay in the circuit house there.

The BTP’s declaration of support for the Congress has bolstered the party’s claim of having the backing of 126 MLAs in the 200-member Rajasthan Assembly, including 108 Congress MLAs, 13 independents, 1 from the RLD, and 2 each from the CPI (M) and the BTP.

The principal Opposition BJP has 71 MLAs, while the Hanuman Beniwal-led Rashtriya Loktantrik Party (RLP) accounts for three legislators. Both the BJP and the RLP have declared their support for Chandra.

For the Upper House elections for four seats from Rajasthan, the Congress has fielded its three senior leaders – Mukul Wasnik, Randeep Surjewala and Pramod Tiwari – while the saffron party has nominated its leader Ghanshyam Tiwari.

Even as the Congress’s two candidates and the BJP’s official nominee would sail through the polls easily, Chandra’s bid to throw his hat into the ring as an independent candidate backed by the BJP and the RLP has created a suspense over the poll outcome for the fourth seat.

Each candidate needs the vote of 41 MLAs to romp home. The Congress would thus need altogether 123 votes to clinch victory for all its candidates.

“We need 123 votes to get our three candidates elected. We currently have the support of 126 MLAs. The BJP has 71 members in the House. If their one candidate gets elected, they will have 30 votes left. Even if the RLP supports them, they will have 33 votes. From where will they get the votes of 8 more MLAs? Somehow they have horse-trading on their mind,” said Mahesh Joshi, the minister and the Gehlot government’s chief whip in the state Assembly.

“The person (Subhash Chandra) is being called an independent candidate, but the BJP actually wanted to make him its own candidate. But because it doesn’t want to take the blame for losing the poll, he has been fielded as an independent candidate,” Joshi said.

Earlier, the Congress had managed to placate those MLAs who had joined the party after getting elected in the 2018 Assembly polls on the BSP tickets, corralling them as part of the party’s flock of legislators in Udaipur. Similarly, over the last few days Gehlot has met and pacified several MLAs who had been upset with the government.

On his part, Chandra has claimed that he has the votes to win the election and that he will get the support of 8-9 more MLAs besides the 33 from the BJP and the RLP. He has also claimed that some Congress MLAs will do cross-voting in his favour, which has been vehemently denied by the ruling party.