Stage is set for a contest for four Rajya Sabha seats from Rajasthan with Congress and other Opposition parties extending their support to Independent candidate and former minister Kamal Morarka against four nominees of the ruling BJP.
Leader of Opposition Rameshwar Dudi has convened a meeting of party MLAs at his residence tomorrow to chalk out a strategy.
The BJP has also decided to held a training programme for its MLA. Few Independents are also supporting the party.
Polling has been necessitated as none of the five candidates withdrew their name for the four seats. It will take place on June 11 and the results declared the same day.
MLAs of Congress, National Peoples Party, and some Independent legislators were the proposer of Morarka.
"We are supporting Morarka. A meeting of Congress MLAs has been convened tomorrow to discuss and finalise things," Dudi said today.
Union ministerVenkaiahNaidu, BJP's national vice president Om Prakash Mathur, former RBI official Ramkumar Sharma and member of erstwhile Dungarpur royal family Harsh Vardhan Singh are the BJP candidates.
A BJP leader said the party will arrange training programme for the party MLAs to ensure there is no cross voting or no vote is invalid.
Dudi alleged the BJP is "herding" its MLAs ahead of the elections.
"The non-BJP legislators will vote for Morarka because the people of the state want the BJP to get a jolt as the government is ignoring the interests of all sections of the society. Out of fear, the BJP is herding its MLAs," he said.
In the House of 200, the ruling BJP has 160 members, Congress 24, National Peoples Party four, BSP three, National Unionist Zamindara Party has two, and seven are Independents.
BJP State President Ashok Parnami exuded confidence that the party's four candidates will win.
"The party has the majority to win the four seats. BJP has 160 MLAs and support of four Independents," he said.
Parnami alleged Morarka is in the contest to try to win on the basis of horse-trading because he does not have sufficient votes.
