Senior Congress leader Bhupinder Hooda asserted that his party will win one of the two Rajya Sabha seats in Haryana up for elections this week.
He claimed the support of all the Congress MLAs amid reports of at least one of them missing from the Raipur hotel where they are staying.
While speaking to media, Hooda said, “We have the support of all our MLAs, we have 31 MLAs (of Haryana Congress) with us but one is ill.”
It should be noted that Haryana Congress MLAs are staying at Mayfair resort in Naya Raipur, Chhattisgarh ahead of the Rajya Sabha elections.
Chhattisgarh chief minister Bhupesh Baghel, who reached the resort to meet the MLAs, told media, “We will be meeting Congress leader Bhupinder Hooda, one candidate is with BJP and one is with Congress.”
“We are confident that we will win… Ajay Maken will win the seat,” he said.
As many as 31 MLA votes are required to win the first seat, and 30 for the second. The BJP, which has 40 MLAs, is sure to get one seat and it will have nine surplus MLA votes.
The Congress has 31 MLAs in total and needs as many votes to win a first seat, but a sulking Kuldeep Bishnoi could throw a spanner.
The ruling BJP is seeking to disturb the Congress’ calculations with the help of 10 MLAs of the JJP, cross-voting and by wooing Independents and lawmakers from other parties.
The Congress has fielded its general secretary Ajay Maken, while the BJP has nominated Krishan Lal Panwar.
Kartikeya Sharma, son of former union minister Venod Sharma and son-in-law of former Speaker Kuldeep Sharma, has also entered the fray as an independent with the BJP is supporting him, making the contest for the second seat interesting.
In the 90-member Haryana Assembly, the BJP has 40 MLAs while the Congress has 31. The JJP, which is an ally of the BJP, has 10 legislators while the Indian National Lok Dal and Haryana Lokhit Party one each. There seven Independents.
Polling for two Rajya Sabha seats will be held on June 10.
