'Resort politics’ returns ahead of crucial Rajya Sabha elections on June 10

Rajya Sabha (File image)

As many as 70 Congress MLAs in Rajasthan are currently staying at a resort in Udaipur. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has moved its legislators to a resort in Jaipur. In Haryana, 28 of the 31 Congress lawmakers have been shifted to a hotel in Chhattisgarh’s Raipur.

The latest season of what is often dubbed as ‘resort politics’ is back in many states, ahead of the Rajya Sabha polls scheduled this Friday. This growing trend of moving legislators to resorts and hotels to prevent them from being poached by others has reportedly been prompted after the BJP and its allies picked up two media barons in Rajasthan and Haryana, which is being understood as a move to spoil the Congress’s chances.

READ | Rajya Sabha election results will influence political events till 2024

In Rajasthan, Zee Network’s Subhash Chandra is contesting as an independent candidate backed by the BJP, while in Haryana, News X’s Kartikeya Sharma is being supported by BJP ally Jannayak Janata Party (JJP) in the Rajya Sabha polls.

BJP shifting its MLAs to a resort in Jaipur for a "training camp" ahead of the Rajya Sabha elections on June 10, days after a similar move by Rajasthan's ruling Congress

— Press Trust of India (@PTI_News) June 6, 2022

Elections to 57 Rajya Sabha seats, spread across 15 states and Union territories, were scheduled to be held on June 10.  Forty-one candidates have already been declared elected unopposed.

Of them, the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) has 17 members, the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) has 10, and regional parties 14.

Elections to the remaining 16 seats will be held on June 10. They include six seats in Maharashtra, four each in Rajasthan and Karnataka and two in Haryana.

Also read | Chidambaram, Sibal, Misa Bharti among 41 elected unopposed to Rajya Sabha

This election assumes significance as the results will influence political events till 2024, according to analyst Amitabh Tiwari. This is the last big election to the Upper House before the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, Tiwari said. Next year, only 10 members are due for retirement, and the status quo is likely to be maintained.

Rajasthan

The Congress candidates in the state are Mukul Wasnik, Randeep Singh Surjewala, and Pramod Tiwari. The BJP has named former state minister Ghanshyam Tiwari as its candidate, apart from supporting Chandra.

A candidate needs 41 votes to be elected to the Rajya Sabha. The Congress, which has 108 MLAs, is certain about two of its nominees—Wasnik and Surjewala. However, it is short of 15 MLAs to ensure the victory of Tiwari.

The BJP, which has 71 MLAs, will be left with 30 surplus votes after securing its seats. Thus, it will need the support of 11 more MLAs to assure Chandra’s win.

There are 13 independents in the assembly. The Communist Party of India (CPI) has two seats, the Rashtriya Loktantrik Party (RLP) three, the Bharatiya Tribal Party two, and the Rashtriya Lok Dal one. These independents and MLAs from smaller parties can play a decisive role, and, hence, every vote from an MLA will be crucial for the Congress and the BJP.

Though Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot expressed confidence, analysts say Chandra’s nomination has made it difficult for the Congress. The state’s former chief minister and BJP leader Vasundhara Raje said it was shocking to see power being misused before the elections.  “A police vehicle has been placed behind every MLA and they are being chased. This is a complete abuse of power, which has never happened before,” she alleged.

The Congress legislators are staying in Udaipur’s Taj Aravali hotel, where the party held its ‘Chintan Shivir’ last month.

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The BJP has also shifted its MLAs to a resort. More than 60 of its 71 MLAs have been reportedly shifted to Devi Niketan, a resort in Jamdoli on the outskirts of Jaipur. The party, however, called the stay a 'prashikshan shivir', or a learning camp.

Haryana

In Haryana, the Congress has fielded one candidate, Ajay Maken, for the two seats going to polls. The BJP has fielded Kishan Lal Panwar, besides extending support to Kartikeya Sharma.

In the 90-member Haryana House, the BJP and its allies have 57 members, where the Congress has 31 lawmakers. The number needed to win an Upper House seat is 30. Thus the BJP and its allies, taken together, will possess 27 excess votes after securing their seats.

Sharma may thus need 2-3 cross-votes to get elected. The MLAs who were escorted in a plane are lodged in Mayfair Hotel on the outskirts of Raipur.

“We have got sufficient numbers -- 31 MLAs. One seat is going to the Congress and one to the BJP,” former chief minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda told NDTV. “The other parties may try horse-trading,” Hooda said.

Sources said there is resentment within the Congress in Haryana because of picking an ‘outsider’, Maken. Making matters worse, senior party leader Kuldeep Bishnoi is reportedly unhappy. Kartikeya Sharma is said to be getting support from regional parties as well.

Maharashtra

Some reports from Maharashtra said that the Shiv Sena had booked rooms in Trident Hotel in south Mumbai, from June 8-10, for their MLAs, along with a few independents and some candidates from smaller parties.

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But the plan was dropped at the last minute when they learned that the BJP was planning to camp their MLAs in the same hotel. Now, the ruling party of Maharashtra is planning to move its MLAs to a five-star hotel in the western suburbs of Mumbai.

In Maharashtra, six members will be elected to the Rajya Sabha this time. The fight, however, is for the sixth seat, between Shiv Sena's Sanjay Pawar and BJP's Dhananjay Mahadik. In Maharashtra, each candidate needs 42 votes to win. In the 288-member Assembly, the ruling Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) has 168 legislators.

Not a new phenomenon

Resort politics is not a new phenomenon. The first such was witnessed way back in 1983, when then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi decided to topple the Janata Party government led by Ramakrishna Hegde in Karnataka, spurring the chief minister to conceal his MLAs to protect them from "Congress vultures."

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The last such case was in 2017 when Congress president Sonia Gandhi's close aide, late Ahmed Patel, was seeking re-election to Rajya Sabha from Gujarat. However, the contest became interesting after a number of Congress MLAs defected to the BJP. Fearing more defections, the party flew 44 of its legislators to the Eagleton Golf Resort in Bengaluru. Patel narrowly got re-elected after two Congress MLAs who flashed their ballot papers were disqualified by the Election Commission.