Rajasthan Congress keeps nervous watch on MLAs ahead of Rajya Sabha polls

The Congress is keeping a nervous watch of its MLAs in Rajasthan as the Rajya Sabha polls with around half a dozen lawmakers expressing their resentment over the way the leadership treats them.

Rajasthan Congress president Govind Singh Dostara said "everything was under control" even as three of them came out in public, including Social Welfare Minister Rajendra Gudha, saying they were not getting the deserved respect in the party.

Congress was hoping to win three of the four Rajya Sabha seats but the entry of independent candidate Subhash Chandra has queered the pitch for the party. Congress has fielded Randeep Surjewala, Mukul Wasnik and Pramod Tiwari but with BJP lending its support by pledging its excess votes to the media baron has put the victory of a third Congress candidate in suspense.

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Chandra is attempting to woo independents and some other party MLAs. One candidate would need 41 votes to win and Congress claims that it has the support of 126, including its own 108 lawmakers.

In a huge relief, the Bharatiya Tribal Party, which has initially decided to abstain from voting, has pledged its support to the Congress. The Congress also hope that all the 13 independents would support it.

Eleven of the 13 independents are staying at a resort in Udaipur where the Congress has shifted its legislators to ensure that they are poached.

But the Congress is a bit worried about the six MLAs, who won on BSP ticket and later merged themselves with the Congress, as only five of them have not joined the other MLAs in the resort. Gudha, the Minister who won on BSP ticket and shifted to the Congress, on Friday said that they were not given the respect they deserve and justice was denied to them.

Meanwhile, the Rajasthan BSP issued a whip asking these six MLAs, who won as BSP candidates, to vote for Chandra.

BSP state president Bhagwan Singh Baba said the six MLAs had won their seats in the 2018 state polls on BSP symbol and "are bound to work as per the party whip".

"The BSP does not agree with the policies of the Congress and the BJP, and therefore opposes their candidates. The party has issued a whip directing the MLAs to vote for the Independent candidate," PTI quoted Baba as saying.