As the Maha Vikas Aghadi government in Maharashtra gears up for the upcoming Rajya Sabha polls, state Congress president Nana Patole said on Tuesday that all their MLAs are together and will ensure the victory of all the four candidates nominated by the ruling alliance. The Rajya Sabha polls for the six seats from Maharashtra will be held on June 10.
“All our MLAs are together and we are taking independent leaders with us too. All four candidates from Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) will be elected in the upcoming Rajya Sabha election on June 10,” Patole was quoted as telling news agency ANI.
The Congress leader’s remarks came after the Shiv Sena moved its MLAs to a hotel on Monday to thwart any attempts of horse-trading. While the reports initially indicated the MLAs were being moved to suburban Malad, a senior party leader today said the MLAs would be shifted to The Trident– a five-star hotel – in South Mumbai. The hotel is at a stone’s throw from the Maharashtra Legislative Assembly where voting will take place for the six Rajya Sabha seats.
“All legislators of the Sena have been summoned to Mumbai and they will stay together till the polls on June 10,” news agency PTI quoted a senior party official as saying.
“We were in ‘The Retreat’ (at Madh island in northwest Mumbai) and all our ministers too were present there. That was part of our strategy. We will be moving to hotel ‘The Trident’ (in south Mumbai) today,” Sena MLA and party spokesperson Sunil Prabhu said.
The Sena has 55 MLAs (one MLA had died due to a heart attack last month) in the 288-member House.
After more than two decades, the state will witness a contest in the Rajya Sabha polls as there are seven candidates in the fray for six seats.
The Sena has fielded two candidates — Sanjay Raut and Sanjay Pawar — while the BJP has nominated Union minister Piyush Goyal, Anil Bonde and Dhananjay Mahadik. The NCP (Praful Patel) and Congress (Imran Pratapgarhi) have fielded one candidate each.
The contest will be for the sixth seat between Pawar and Mahadik.
Given its strength in the Assembly, the BJP has enough votes to win two seats, while the Sena, NCP and Congress can win one seat each.
The Sena (55), NCP (52) and Congress (44) — all constituents of the Maha Vikas Aghadi– have enough votes together to ensure the victory for the second candidate of the Sena.
While two NCP MLAs – Anil Deshmukh and minister Nawab Malik – are currently in jail, one seat is lying vacant in the 288-member House. Apart from the four main parties, the Assembly has 25 MLAs from smaller parties and Independents.
The Sena decided to corral its MLAs after accusing the opposition BJP of “horse-trading” and using Central agencies to pressure independent MLAs.
(With PTI inputs)