New Delhi: The BJP in Madhya Pradesh believes it has enlisted the support of MLAs from the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), Samajwadi Party (SP), and a number of Independents for the Rajya Sabha election, according to BJP functionaries.

The SP and the BSP, however, claimed that their MLAs were going against the party line supporting the BJP. In 2018, the two BSP MLAs and one SP MLA had supported the Kamal Nath-led Congress.Voting for three seats in the Rajya Sabha is set for Friday. 

The BJP has nominated Jyotiraditya Scindia and Sumer Singh Solanki while the Congress has nominated senior leader Digvijaya Singh and Phool Singh Baraiya.

The assembly has a total of 230 seats, but 24 seats are vacant, so the number has been reduced to 206. Of these, the BJP has 107 seats, Congress has 92, BSP has two, SP has one and four seats are taken by Independent candidates. To win a seat in the Rajya Sabha election, a candidate needs 52 votes.

‘Not betraying anyone’

Health Minister and senior BJP leader Narottam Mishra, who is also credited within the state unit for undertaking ‘Operation Kamal’ that toppled Kamal Nath’s government, had hosted a dinner for Madhya Pradesh MLAs Wednesday evening. This was attended by BJP MLAs, the two BSP MLAs — Ramabai Parihar and Sanjeev Kushwaha — and the SP’s lone MLA Rajesh Shukla, apart from the Independents.

Speaking to ThePrint, BSP’s Patharia MLA Ramabai Parihar said she decided to support the BJP because she was ignored by the Congress when it was in power. 

“I am not betraying anyone. Congress did not support me when they were in the government. I want development in my area and that is why I have decided to vote for the BJP. I have not had any discussion on whom to vote with the party high-command,” she told ThePrint.

BSP’s Madhya Pradesh president Ramakant Pippal said a final decision on the party line and the candidate to support will be taken by party chief Mayawati. He added that Ramabai was suspended from the BSP last year.

According to sources, SP MLA Shukla is also likely to lend support to the BJP. However, party state president Gouri Singh Yadav said, “This is not the party line, but his (Shukla’s) individual decision … we will definitely advise him not to vote for the BJP.”

Dinner meeting

The dinner was attended by Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan, central party observers Prakash Javadekar, Baijayant Panda, and senior union minister Narendra Singh Tomar, BJP’s national vice-president Vinay Sahasrabuddhe and state unit chief V.D. Sharma. Independent MLAs Vikram Rana and Surendra Singh Shera were also seen in the pictures tweeted by the Health Minister Mishra.

“Though it was a dinner meeting organised a day before the legislative party meeting, the idea was to informally discuss the strategy,” said a senior BJP leader. 

“Today, the legislative party meeting will take place and we are quite confident of getting two seats. The Congress is in a soup as some of its own MLAs have not attended their meetings.”