Mumbai: As the tussle for the sixth Rajya Sabha candidate intensifies with the independents and smaller party MLAs holding the key, the ruling alliance and Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) are busy pulling all strings to ensure the victory of their candidates. The ruling MVA constituents and opposition BJP have started reaching out to the Independents and MLAs from smaller parties. Besides, they are also chalking out plans to avert poaching from the other side.
Chief minister Uddhav Thackeray has convened a meeting of independents and smaller parties on Monday and another with the ruling party MLAs the next day.
The MVA parties — Sena, Nationalist Congress Party and Congress — have begun meeting legislators who could swing the elections. Sena’s Sunil Raut and Rajan Vichare met Bahujan Vikas Aghadi (BVA) chief Hitendra Thakur, whose party has three MLAs in the lower house.
Bharatiya Janata Party‘s observer and Union railway minister Ashwini Vaishnav on Sunday held a meeting with key party leaders, including RS candidate Piyush Goyal, leader of opposition Devendra Fadnavis, state unit chief Chandrakant Patil, former Mumbai unit chief Ashish Shelar. Fadnavis joined the meeting virtually as he has tested positive for Covid-19.
The BJP has been claiming to have maximum independents and smaller party MLAs siding with them.
The Sena, meanwhile, has decided to lodge its flock in a hotel to avoid any possibility of poaching, a party insider added. It has asked all its party MLAs as well as the independent and other party MLAs who are supporting Sena to be present in Mumbai by June 8.
The other two ruling parties and even BJP are planning to take their MLAs to a ‘safer place’ to avoid poaching. The MLAs are expected to be lodged in Mumbai hotels.
The MVA coalition has fielded four candidates, while BJP has put up three candidates for the RS elections, slated to be held on June 10.
BJP leader and former Mumbai unit chief of the party Ashish Shelar said that the party was all prepared for the polls and all three of its candidates will be elected. “We held a meeting of the key leaders at our Mumbai office today. We have an adequate number of votes to elect all our three candidates. We are getting the support required from the independents. Shiv Sena’s Sanjay Raut will witness defeat in the polls,” he said.
Satej Patil, minister of state for home and guardian minister of Kolhapur, from where two candidates are in the fray, said that the day of the voting will show who has the magic figure. “The independent MLAs are with us as they believe in our ideology. The MVA has convened a meeting of all MVA MLAs in Mumbai on Tuesday. The BJP has been talking about the cross-voting in the ruling party folds, but a few BJP MLAs are in our touch. We will show our strength on the day of voting,” he said.
Congress has appointed leader of opposition in Rajya Sabha Mallikarjun Kharge as its observer for the RS poll in Maharashtra. Kharge is expected to arrive in Mumbai soon.
Smaller parties and Independents hold the key in the RS polls. Notably, Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS), AIMIM and CPI (M) abstained from voting during the confidence vote in November 2019. The stand taken by these parties, which collectively have four votes, assumes importance.
MNS’s lone MLA Raju Patil said that the decision over voting will be taken by the party chief ahead of the poll. Samajwadi Party’s state chief Abu Asim Azmi said that the final decision over the voting will be taken by the party’s national chief Akhilesh Yadav. AIMIM has already clarified that it would not vote for the candidates from the BJP or the Shiv Sena.
Sena insiders said that the party has the votes of eight Independents. “Chandrapur’s MLA Kishor Jorgewar and 7 seven other Independents have signed the nomination of (Sanjay) Pawar seconding his candidature. We have support from Ashish Jaiswal (Ramtek) Geeta Jain (Mira Bhayander) Narendra Bhondekar (Bhandara), Manjula Gavit (Sakri) and Chandrakant Patil (Muktainagar). Besides them, Bacchu Kadu and Rajkumar Patel are with us. MVA had the support of the chunk of Independents when it came to power and still has the support from them,” said a senior party functionary.
The MVA won the confidence vote in November 2019 after the formation of the Thackeray government with the support of 170 members. The ruling combine had garnered the support of 8 of the total 13 MLAs and at least 9 members from the smaller parties. The MVA has now claimed that the support will continue even in the RS polls.
In the 288-member state Assembly, the Sena has 55 MLAs, Nationalist Congress Party has 53, and Congress and BJP have 44 and 106, respectively. There are 13 independents, and there is one vacancy due to the death of Sena MLA Ramesh Latke. Two of NCP MLAs — Nawab Malik and Anil Deshmukh — are in jail.
Hitendra Thakur’s BVA has three MLAs, while Samajwadi Party SP, AIMIM, and Prahar Janshakti Party (PJP) have two each. CPI(M), MNS, Peasants and Workers Party of India (PWP), Swabhimani Party, Rashtriya Samaj Party, Jansurajya Party, and Krantikari Shetkari Party have one each.
The Sena could be in a tight spot after Abu Asim Azmi, a Samajwadi Party legislator, is appearing to play hardball for its support of two legislators.
Azmi wrote to chief minister Uddhav Thackeray on Saturday saying that the MVA government had neglected the minorities. However, the Sena is expected to seek the help of NCP and Congress to garner support from Azmi and Bhiwandi MLA Rais Shaikh for the MVA candidate.
Azmi, in his letter, questioned Thackeray, “Is the face of Maha Vikas Aghadi a secular one or is it Neo Hindutva, which you have been repeatedly mentioning for the past few days?”
“Even after two and a half years of being in power, the MVA government has taken no action to address the problems of the minority communities in the state,” he added.
The role of BVA chief Hitendra Thakur is also being closely watched as he has three legislators, including himself. Thakur, who has always sided with the ruling dispensation, is holding his cards close to his chest.
“Top leaders and senior functionaries from BJP and MVA have been in touch with me. Like parties campaign for elections, contacting is also part of the campaign in such elections. There is nothing wrong with it,” he said.
Neelam Gorhe, Shiv Sena leader and deputy chairman of the legislative council, said, “Shiv Sena has been winning the RS and legislative council polls with the solid support from our MLAs who believe in ideology and are attached to us by heart. We have managed the votes required to win the candidates who have been put in the fray.”