Rampant cross voting by legislators was witnessed for polls to 15 Rajya Sabha seats from Uttar Pradesh, Karnataka and Himachal Pradesh on February 27. It was not just the regional parties, but legislators like Samajwadi Party of Uttar Pradesh, and Congress voted for the BJP candidates in different states. But the cross voting in favour of the BJP in Uttar Pradesh and Himachal Pradesh is a clear indication of which way the wind is blowing. The latest political developments are a cause of concern to the Congress and the INDIA bloc ahead of the Lok Sabha polls.
The much-hyped alliance between the Congress and the Samajwadi Party in Uttar Pradesh has been devastated – to put it rather mildly – in their own bastions in the Rajya Sabha elections. It was a perfectly scripted story that unfolds on the political stage. While the Samajwadi Party faced a major revolt in its ranks with seven MLAs deserting it during the RS polls by cross-voting in favour of the BJP, it is the Congress that has faced a worse debacle since the RS polls have left it bereft of support in its own bastions – Amethi and Rae Bareli.
Samajwadi leaders in these two constituencies have led the revolt, clearly indicating that they are in no mood to accept the alliance with the Congress. The Congress, on the other hand, has lost whatever hope of support it had from the Samajwadi Party ahead of the general elections. The party can no longer hope to ride piggyback to success in its own bastions. In Rae Bareli, the revolt was led by Manoj Pandey, the chief whip of the Samajwadi legislative party. The two other former Congress leaders, Dinesh Pratap Singh and Aditi Singh, had already joined the BJP earlier.
The other Congress bastion that faces an opposition rout is Amethi. SP MLA Rakesh Pratap Singh, who represents the Gauriganj Assembly seat in Amethi, was the first one to cross vote in favour of the BJP. Another SP MLA from Amethi — Maharaji Prajapati did not turn up to cast her vote. She is also set to join the BJP. With the two MLA crossing over to the BJP, all five Assembly constituencies in Amethi are now with the state’s ruling party. SP MLA from Ambedkar Nagar, Rakesh Pandey, also voted for the BJP and made his preference clear.
BJP’s Harsh Mahajan got elected to the Rajya Sabha from Himachal Pradesh by defeating ruling Congress nominee Abhishek Manu Singhvi after cross-voting by at least six ruling legislators. However, it was just the opposite in Karnataka where BJP MLAs either voted for the Congress candidates or abstained, ignoring ideological and party allegiance ahead of Lok Sabha elections. BJP MLA S T Somashekar voted for ruling Congress candidate Ajay Maken. Another BJP MLA Arbail Shivaram Hebbar abstained from voting, lending advantage to the State’s ruling party.
