BJP banks on independents to win 4 additional seats in Rajya Sabha polls

Seeking to consolidate its position in Rajya Sabha, the BJP is banking on independents for four additional seats and is seeking to capitalise on the infighting within the Congress in as many states in the June 10 biennial election.

The entry of two independents - media barons Subhash Chandra in Rajasthan and Kartikeya Sharma in Haryana - has pepped up the Rajya Sabha polls and made the contest interesting and somewhat difficult for the Congress.

To put its flock together, the Congress is shifting its MLAs in Rajasthan to a resort in Udaipur and those in Haryana to Chhattisgarh before the June 10 election, sources said.

In a first, the BJP has also appointed Union ministers Narendra Singh Tomar and Gajendra Singh Shekhawat as its in-charge for the polls in Rajasthan and Haryana respectively.

The party also appointed Union ministers Ashwini Vaishnaw and G Kishan Reddy as in-charge for the Rajya Sabha elections in Maharashtra and Karnataka, two other states headed for a contest with more candidates in the race than the number of seats.

The elections are being held to fill 57 Rajya Sabha seats from 15 states that will be falling vacant due to the retirement of members on different dates between June and August.

In Rajasthan and Karnataka, Rajya Sabha elections will be held for four seats, in Maharashtra for six seats and in Haryana for two.

The BJP's support to independents partly comes from the discontent that has crept in the Congress ranks due to selection of candidates from outside the state.

Sources in the BJP said its game plan is set around twin objectives of capitalising on defections within Congress and wooing independents and other non-UPA parties.

In Haryana, the BJP is lending its support to Kartikeya Sharma, who is the son of former union minister Venod Sharma and son-in-law of former Haryana Speaker Kuldeep Sharma. While Kartikeya is said to be close to chief minister Manohar Lal Khattar, his mother is also the current mayor of Ambala.

Incidently, both Venod Sharma and Kuldeep Sharma are considered close to former chief minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda, whose position will turn vulnerable in case the official Congress candidate Ajay Maken loses.

The Congress has 31 votes required to win the election for the second seat, but its MLA Kuldeep Bishnoi has not turned up at the CLP meeting convened by the party recently to support the candidature of Maken. The Congress may also get support from independents.

The BJP has 40 MLAs and the JJP has 10, leaving the alliance with 19 additional votes. They have to get 12 additional votes and are wooing the INLD which has one seat, seven independents and one HLP seat.

Sharma is hoping that in case he manages to get two Congress votes in cross-voting, he can make it home with the help of second preference votes of the BJP.

In Rajasthan, the Congress has 108 of its own votes and the BJP has 71, which can get two seats and one seat easily. The Congress is seeking the support of 13 independents, besides three of Rashtriya Loktantrik Party, two each of CPI-M and one of RLD to bag the third seat of Pramod Tiwari. The Bharatiya Tribal Party with two votes has decided to bastain in the Rajya Sabha poll.

The BJP has fielded its own candidate Ghanshyam Tiwari, a former minister in the state.

Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot on Thursday claimed that the Congress will win three out of four seats.

He said despite not having a majority, the BJP has backed an independent candidate, who "will face defeat". He said the BJP was "playing tricks of horse-trading" but the party will not be successful.

The BJP has fielded additional candidates - Dhananjay Mahadik in Maharashtra and Lahar Singh in Karnataka, and is working on discontent within the Congress and other parties to win.

The battle in Karnataka has turned interesting as both the parties are seeking to corner the JDS votes for the fourth seat. While the BJP has 119 MLA votes to ensure the victory of its candidates Nirmala Sitharaman and actor-turned-politician Jaggesh.

The Congress also has enough votes to ensure victory of its candidate Jairam Ramesh, but has fielded Mansoor Ali Khan, son of senior party leader Rahman Khan, and is wooing the JDS votes to bag the second seat.

The BJP, which is left with 29 additional votes and needs 16 more votes for another seat, has fielded its third candidate Lahar Singh Siroya in Karnataka.

The BJP has fielded three candidates from Maharashtra while the ruling alliance of Shiv Sena, Congress and NCP has four, with the two rivals seeking to outmanoeuvre each other in cornering additional votes required to make the third BJP nominee.

With the nomination of former MLA and Janata Congress Chhattisgarh (J) candidate Haridas Bharadwaj for RS poll rejected, paving the way for the unopposed election of Congress's Rajeev Shukla and Ranjeet Ranjan.