Rajasthan: Cong hits out at BJP over RS Polls; exudes confidence in a 'befitting reply'

Congress leader Randeep Singh Surjewala on Friday slammed the BJP and said that the people of Rajasthan and the legislators in the state will give the party a "befitting reply" in the forthcoming Rajya Sabha elections. The Congress on Wednesday had charged the BJP with attempts to destabilise the Rajasthan government and CM Gehlot had claimed that some of the party MLAs were offered Rs 25 crore each. Congress has taken all its MLAs to a Jaipur resort to prevent horse-trading ahead of Rajya Sabha polls on June 19.

While addressing the media, Surjewala slammed BJP's attempt at defections through an engineered premeditated conspiracy.

"Is stealing the mandate of people, is stealing the majority given by people of the state, is an attempt at defections through an engineered premeditated conspiracy, the exercise of democratic right?" Surjewala said.

"Does the BJP have the number of elected legislators to elect two MPs? In Rajya Sabha elections other than for Independent candidates everybody has to show his or her vote to a designated person by the party as per the Constitution of India. The people of Rajasthan and the legislators of Rajasthan will give you a befitting reply by decisively defeating your conspiracies and your attempt at denigrating democracy," he added.

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RS polls in Rajasthan

Currently, Congress has 107 MLAs in the Rajasthan Assembly having a strength of 200 members. The other members include 72 legislators from BJP, 13 Independents, three from the Rashtriya Loktantrik Party, two each from CPI(M) and Bhartiya Tribal Party and one from RLD. As each candidate requires 51 first preference votes to win, two Congress and one BJP candidates were expected to be elected unopposed. However, BJP fielding two candidates- Rajendra Gehlot and Onkar Singh Lakhawat set off alarm bells in the ruling Congress camp. 

On Wednesday, Congress MLAs were moved to a resort to reportedly prevent horse-trading attempts. Mahesh Joshi, Congress' Chief Whip of the Rajasthan Assembly wrote to the chief of the state's Anti-Corruption Bureau alleging a threat to the stability of the government. He claimed that the party's MLAs and Independents were being lured to destabilise a democratically elected government. Moreover, Rajasthan CM Ashok Gehlot alleged that some of the Congress MLAs were offered Rs.25 crore each by BJP. As per sources, 23 of the Congress MLAs might defect to BJP.

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(Image credits: PTI)