Amit Shah sweet revenge after losing two by polls in UP
LUCKNOW : As the dates for Rajya Sabha elections come close, political parties in Uttar Pradesh are preparing in full swing to retain their MLAs and keep them from cross-voting. Meanwhile, fight for the Rajya Sabha berth between BJP candidate Anil Agarwal and BSP candidate Bhim Rao Ambedkar will be the one to keep an eye on.
The BJP quipped on Tuesday that the opposition parties should prepare as much as they can as they will need a lot of “strength” to defeat the BJP in 2019.
Anil Agarwal is the ninth candidate from BJP who is short of just 9 votes as the party be left with 28 votes even after sending eight candidates to the Rajya Sabha. One MLA of the Nishad Party, Vijay Mishra has also declared support for BJP. Also, Nitin Agarwal, son of Naresh Agarwal who has recently joined BJP, is most likely to go to the BJP.
On the other hand, BSP candidate Ambedkar will be getting the votes of 19 BSP MLAs along with 10 Samajwadi Party votes, which they will be left with after sending Jaya Bachchan to the Rajya Sabha. The Congress too, will be lending support to Ambedkar with its seven MLAs.
In a bid to keep the flock together, Samajwadi Party has called for a dinner meeting at a five-star property in Lucknow on March 21 and party patriarch Mulayam Singh Yadav, Ram Gopal Yadav, Shivpal Yadav and party president Akhilesh Yadav will be attending the meeting along with some ex-MLAs and ministers. S
P MLA Rakesh Pratap Singh is organising the dinner. “Invitations have been sent out to all key people and I expect that everyone will attend the dinner. The dinner is being hosted to celebrate the historic win in Phulpur and Gorakhpur bypolls. I have personally invited Raja Bhaiyya, along with Shivpal Yadav Ji and Neta Ji and I am sure they will come.” told Rakesh Singh.
The Bahujan Samaj Party has also called for a meeting of its MLAs on March 22, a day before the Rajya Sabha polls.Meanwhile, Congress has also appointed a whip for its MLAs and has issued instructions for March 21-23.
Congress MLA Ajay Kumar Lallu is hosting a dinner for all Congress MLAs on Wednesday. Lallu said, “Every party hosts meeting with its MLAs and it is routine. We are meeting this evening (Tuesday) as well, to discuss our strategy for the Rajya Sabha elections.”
The ruling Bhartiya Janta Party has also called for a meeting of all BJP MLAs and allies on March 21 at the official residence of CM Yogi Adityanath.Senior party leaders and ministers have been instructed to be in touch with the MLAs while CM Yogi Adityanath is monitoring the situation himself.
Meanwhile, In the last 24 hours, BJP president Amit Shah has made the right moves towards sweet revenge after losing two important bypolls in UP. Seven Samajwadi lawmakers skipped an important party meeting today ahead of the Rajya Sabha election – bad news for Samajwadi chief Akhilesh Yadav and also for Mayawati’s party, which stands to lose the race for one seat in the upper house.
On Friday, Uttar Pradesh will decide on 10 of 31 Rajya Sabha seats. There are nine BJP cand idates and one each from the Samajwadi Party (SP) and Mayawati’s Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP).The BJP has 311 MLAs, so it is assured that at least eight of its nine candidates will win.
The Samajwadi Party has 47, so its sole candidate should win – and it will have 10 surplus votes.Mayawati has 19 MLAs. If all 10 of the Samajwadi Party’s extra votes come to her (that is, the Samajwadi Party’s lawmakers obey the party instruction), she gets 29. The Congress has guaranteed her its seven. Ajit Singh’s party has offered to back her with its one vote.So she could hit 37 – the magic number.
But the roster at a Samajwadi Party meeting called by Akhilesh Yadav in Lucknow this morning is worrying for Mayawati.Seven SP lawmakers including Akhilesh Yadav’s uncle Shivpal Yadav skipped the meet. The absentees included the lawmaker so n of Naresh Agrawal, a serial defector who quit the SP and shifted to the BJP after being denied a Rajya Sabha chance.
Although ,Samajwadi Party leadership on expressed confidence in a crucial meet called especially for the Rajya Sabha polls here on Wednesday, confidence about victory of one of its candidates in the Rajya sabha Polls though it transferred eight votes to the BSP candidate. It was also optimistic about getting the two votes of independent candidates Raghuraj Pratap Singh alias Raja Bhaiyya and one other. (With Agency Inputs ).
