Bhubaneswar: Leader of Opposition in Odisha Assembly and BJD president Naveen Patnaik Wednesday accused the ruling BJP of engaging in horse trading ahead of the Rajya Sabha polls in the state.
Patnaik said this after BJD’s former MP Ravindra Kumar Jena quit the regional outfit and joined the BJP Wednesday ahead of the Rajya Sabha polls March 16.
I have requested the state government to take immediate action for the lakhs of Odias stranded in the Middle East countries. Instead of concentrating on that, the BJP in Odisha is concentrating on horse trading for the forthcoming Rajya Sabha elections in Odisha. As you can see, this is a shocking state of affairs in our state, Patnaik, a former five-time chief minister, said.
BJD leader and Opposition chief whip Pramila Mallik alleged that the BJP can go to any extent to win elections.
BJP leaders are Gujarati traders. Despite knowing that the party does not have the numbers to win an additional seat in the Rajya Sabha, the BJP has fielded an Independent candidate and is attempting to win the seat in a fraudulent manner. What message is the BJP giving to the future generations It is teaching how to get entry in a backdoor manner, Mallick, a seven-time MLA from Binjharpur assembly segment in Jajpur district, said.
However, they cannot succeed this time, she said.
Odisha Pradesh Congress Committee (OPCC) president Bhakta Charan Das said all the Congress MLAs are united and they will vote for the common candidate. He also feared the possible horse-trading attempt by the BJP.
As the fear of horse trading looms large and alleged attempts are made to poach MLAs from BJD, some of the party legislators have suggested that the state leadership keep all the 48 lawmakers in one place in the state capital till the end of voting for the RS polls March 16.
BJD MLAs Pradip Kumar Disari and Pradeep Kumar Sahoo said they have suggested to the BJD leadership to make arrangements to keep all the MLAs in one place, as there is a possibility of winning the confidence of some members by the BJP people.
We have proposed to the party leadership to keep all the lawmakers who are voters in the Rajya Sabha elections at one place, maybe in a hotel here. We do not know whether the party leadership will accept our proposal, Disari and Sahoo said.
Senior BJP MLA Padmalochan Panda expressed confidence that the BJP’s two official candidates and party-backed Independent nominee will certainly win the polls. However, Panda refused to divulge how the BJP-backed Independent candidate would garner the support of at least eight more MLAs. Wait and see. All our candidates will win, Panda said.
The voting for the Rajya Sabha elections is being held in Odisha after a gap of 12 years, as there are five candidates for the four seats being vacated from Odisha.
The ruling BJP has fielded its Odisha unit president Manmohan Samal and Sujeet Kumar as official candidates for two certain seats and backed the party leader and Independent candidate Dilip Ray.
The BJD has fielded its leader, Santrupt Misra, as the official candidate and named Dr Datteswar Hota as a common candidate for the RS polls. Hota has the support of 14 MLAs of Congress and one from CPI(M).
According to the Rajya Sabha arithmetic in Odisha, one candidate needs at least 30 first preference votes to win.
According to the current Assembly position, the BJP has 79 MLAs and the support of three Independent MLAs. The BJD has 48 MLAs after the suspension of two of its members recently.
After electing two candidates, the BJP will have 22 surplus voters while the BJD will have 18 after electing its official nominee.
The Congress, which has 14 MLAs, and CPI(M), one MLA, have pledged support for Hota.
