Ahead of RS polls, Cong corrals Odisha MLAs in K’taka, Haryana netas in HP | India News

BENGALURU/CHANDIGARH: The Congress has taken nine of its 14 Odisha MLAs to a Bangalore resort and 32 of its Haryana MLAs to the Himachal Pradesh hills, starting a familiar ritual of unscheduled political vacations as the parties try to corral the horse-trading Rajya Sabha pack. In Bhubaneswar, former chief minister Naveen Patnaik’s BJD held mandatory evening meetings of its MLAs for three days to ensure everyone was in line. Both the Congress and the BJD are supporting independent candidate Datteshwar Hota in one of the state’s four seats out of 37 in the RS polls. Odisha PCC president Bhakta Charan Das took the Congress contingent on Friday to the Bidadir resort in Bengaluru South which will be their home at least till the day before the polls. “Nine of our colleagues are on holiday on holiday while five of us are here. You know how BJP is openly trying to trade MLAs. But our colleagues remain united,” CLP chief Rama Chandra Kadam told TOI. Karnataka Deputy CM and state Congress chief DK Sivakumar, overseeing the arrangements at the Wanderla resort off Mysore Road, said the MLAs were brought to the city after the BJP fielded its second candidate for the four seats. “There are concerns about cross-voting and trying to influence legislators with big offers,” he said. In the 147-member Odisha Assembly, the ruling BJP has 79 MLAs and expects the support of three independents. Whereas BJD has 48 MLAs. A candidate needs at least 30 first preference votes to win a seat. Under this formula, two BJP candidates and one BJD candidate are expected to win comfortably. For the fourth seat, the BJP extended its support to independent candidate Dilip Roy, a former Union minister. In Haryana, 32 Congress MLAs gathered at CLP leader Bhupinder Hooda’s Chandigarh residence for a meeting attended by AICC general secretary BK Hariprasad and PCC president Rao Narendra Singh. They took part in a voting exercise before boarding two buses that took them to Shimla, sources said. Those who did not go include Chandramohan, who is said to be unwell, and Olympian Vinesh Phogat. With 48 seats, the BJP is confident that its candidate Sanjay Bhatia will make the journey. Karambir Singh Boudh, the 37-member Congress candidate, needs 31 first preference votes to win. Independent candidate Satish Nandal has turned the equation for the second seat upside down. Congress seems wary of a repeat of Ajay Maken’s 2022 defeat due to cross-voting.