2 months ago
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Ahead of the March 16 Rajya Sabha elections, 8 MLAs of the absorption Congress from Odisha person been shifted to Bengaluru and are staying astatine a backstage edifice connected the city’s outskirts amid fears that the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party successful the eastbound State mightiness effort to poach them.
According to sources, the MLAs arrived successful Bengaluru connected Thursday nighttime on with their families and were taken to a backstage edifice successful Bidadi nether the supervision of Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister D.K. Shivakumar.
Who is successful Bengaluru
Mr. Shivakumar and elder Congress leaders successful Karnataka met Odisha PCC main Bhakta Charan Das and the visiting MLAs connected Friday evening. Odisha MLAs staying astatine the edifice are: Rajan Ekka, Ashok Das, Appala Kumar Swamy, Mangu Killo, Pavitra Sauntha, Nilamadhav Hikka, Prafulla Pradhan and Sathyajit Gomongo.
However, Mr. Shivakumar said helium had not brought the legislators to Bengaluru and that they had arrived connected their own. “The Odisha PCC president called maine and said they were coming to Bengaluru. It indispensable beryllium a enactment matter. When they said they were coming, I said they could come. They wanted a comfy spot and we arranged it,” helium told reporters.
When asked whether the enactment had entrusted him with the task of preventing cross-voting successful the Rajya Sabha elections, Mr. Shivakumar said helium would bash immoderate the enactment asked him to do. “This happens successful each States; it is thing new,” helium said, adding that the MLAs had expressed their tendency to conscionable him aft the Karnataka Assembly session.
Asked if the determination was aimed astatine preventing different “Operation Lotus”, helium said the MLAs had told him they preferred to enactment successful Bengaluru arsenic it was safe. “It is our work to instrumentality attraction of them. I person been doing this since the days of the Vilasrao Deshmukh authorities and person handled akin situations galore times, including during the Rajya Sabha predetermination of Ahmed Patel,” helium said.
Responding to a question connected whether helium was acting arsenic a “trouble-shooter” for the enactment portion his ain governmental issues remained unresolved, Mr. Shivakumar said, “Time volition decide.”
Strength successful Odisha
In the 147-member Odisha Assembly, the BJP has 79 members, BJD (51), Congress (14) and others (3). Sources said six Congress MLAs, meanwhile, stay successful Bhubaneswar to be the ongoing Budget league of the Assembly.
Four Rajya Sabha seats from Odisha are going to the polls, and 5 candidates are successful the fray. The Congress and BJD person jointly fielded Datteshwar Hota, urologist and erstwhile Director of Odisha Medical University. In the 147-member Assembly, the Biju Janata Dal is definite of 1 seat, portion the BJP is expected to triumph 2 seats. Neither enactment has the required 30 archetypal penchant votes to unafraid the 4th seat.
