February 27, the day of Rajya Sabha election, was also a day of revolt and desertion for the Congress. The Congress government in Himachal Pradesh is now on the brink of collapse. In the assembly, BJP has 25 MLAs while the Congress has 43 MLAs. The ruling Congress was overconfident about the victory of its Rajya Sabha candidate Abhishek Manu Singhvi. The BJP fielded former Congress leader Harsh Mahajan as the candidate. But the Congress MLA, who was the proposer for Singhvi’s nomination, cast his vote for the BJP candidate. Harsh Mahajan got the votes of six rebel Congress MLAs and three independents. In the end, both candidates secured 34 votes each. The tie was finally broken through a draw of lots and Mahajan was declared elected. If the Congress government falls, it will be a big blow for the party.
In BJP-ruled Uttar Pradesh, seven opposition Samajwadi Party MLAs rebelled against the party and cast their vote in favour of the BJP Rajya Sabha candidates. The biggest upset was when SP chief whip Manoj Pandey, the MLA from Unchahar seat in Raebareli district, resigned from his post and met Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath. Akhilesh Yadav knew that his third candidate was going to be defeated because of the revolt. The cross voting in UP Rajya Sabha elections will surely have its effect on this year’s Lok Sabha polls. This is a severe jolt to both Akhilesh Yadav and Rahul Gandhi. The revolt in Samajwadi Party may not only cause harm to Akhilesh Yadav, but also the Congress.
On the same day in Bihar, two Congress MLAs – Murari Prasad Gautam and Siddharth Saurabh and one RJD MLA Sangeeta Kumari joined the ruling BJP. All the three had voted in favour of the government defying party whip during the vote on supplementary budget. This was the second jolt to the INDIA bloc in Bihar. On February 12, three RJD MLAs had joined the BJP camp during the debate on motion of confidence by Chief Minister Nitish Kumar. At present, there are 19 Congress MLAs in Bihar and there are speculations that twelve of them could leave the party before the Lok Sabha elections.
February 27 also rattled the Congress in Maharashtra as its state party working president and two-time MLA Basavaraj Patil Murmukar deserted the party and joined the ruling BJP. Recently, former CM Ashok Chavan, former Union Minister Milind Deora and senior party leader Baba Siddique had quit the Congress. Similarly, on the same day in Gujarat, Congress Rajya Sabha MP Naranbhai Rathwa joined the ruling BJP. With so many desertions and revolts, the Congress is in a dire situation ahead of the Lok Sabha polls. Though in Karnataka, Congress properly managed the Rajya Sabha election and all the three party candidates won, one thing is important – Congress cannot afford to lose its government in Himachal Pradesh.
