RS polls: MVA puts up a show of unity; Independents, smaller allies assure support

Mumbai: Three days before the election for six seats to Rajya Sabha in Maharashtra, the ruling Maharashtra Vikas Aghadi (MVA) coalition put up a show of unity at a south Mumbai hotel on Tuesday. The MVA leaders claimed that the meeting was attended by 125 MLAs from the three parties and 13 from smaller parties and Independents. The BJP, on the other hand, was aggressively trying to cobble up the required numbers as the battle is on the for the sixth seat. The party is expected to showcase its strength on Thursday.

The voting for the Rajya Sabha election is set to take place after 24 years as the same was usually unopposed. Seven candidates are in the fray for six seats in the state assembly. Based on their strength, the three ruling parties can get one nominee elected each while BJP can get two on its own. With both sides having surplus votes, the battle is on for the sixth seat for which Sena and BJP have fielded candidates. The role of 29 Independent and small-parties MLAs is crucial.

Shiv Sena, Congress and NCP coalition held a joint meeting of their MLAs at a south Mumbai hotel. The meeting was attended by chief minister Uddhav Thackeray, NCP chief Sharad Pawar and senior Congress leader Mallikarjun Kharge, among others. MVA leaders said eight Independents and 5 MLAs from small parties attended the meeting and assured them of support.

According to a Congress functionary present at the meeting, 44 Sena, 42 NCP and 38 Congress MLAs were present in the meeting. “A few MLAs from all the three parties are on the way to Mumbai, while Sena has asked their Aurangabad MLAs to reach Mumbai after Thackeray’s rally on Wednesday. Eight Independents and five MLAs from smaller parties attended the meeting. Prahar Janashakti, Samajwadi Party and Bahujan Vikas Aghadi MLAs were not present in the meeting but they will vote for us on Friday. We are in continuous talks with them and they have been convinced,” the leader said.

Ashish Jaiswal (Ramtek), Kishor Jorgewar (Chandrapur), Geeta Jain (Mira Bhayander), Narendra Bhondekar (Bhandara), Manjula Gavit (Sakri), Chandrakant Patil (Muktainagar), Sanjay Shinde (Karmala) and Vinod Agrawal (Gondia) are the Independent MLAs who attended the meeting on Tuesday supporting the ruling coalition’s candidates. Peasants and Workers Party MLA Shyamsundar Shinde, CPI(M) member Vinod Nikole and Swabhimani Paksha MLA Devendra Bhuyar are the MLAs from smaller parties who were present for the meeting.

NCP’s state unit chief Jayant Patil said that Samajwadi Party will support the MVA as they share a common stand of opposing the BJP. “The SP has always been with us. There could be issues that need to be addressed, but they will ultimately come with us,” he said.

In a veiled jibe at the BJP, chief minister Uddhav Thackeray said that the tradition to elect members of Rajya Sabha with polls should have been carried. “It is a strange incident, we have been following a tradition [for RS elections]. Decency and politics may be opposites but there is no harm in having some decency in politics. What you all have asked is correct; the elections have happened after 22-24 years. There was no harm if the tradition [to elections members unopposed] was followed,” he said.

“No matter what, the four MVA candidates will go to Rajya Sabha,” chief minister Uddhav Thackeray told reporters after the meeting with MVA legislators.

Mallikarjun Kharge also said, “We all are confident that all four of our MVA candidates will get elected.”

“Despite realising that they do not have the adequate number, the BJP fielded their third candidate as they were interested in horse-trading. They have been using every tactic, including misuse of central agencies, to pressurise MLAs,” said Congress leader and former chief minister Prithviraj Chavan.

To prevent poaching on their votes, the MVA allies shifted their MLAs to various hotels in Mumbai after the meeting. The Sena MLAs have been lodged at the Trident hotel since Monday, while NCP and Congress lawmakers were shifted to a Powai hotel.

Talking about shifting MLAs to a hotel, Jayant Patil said that the decision was taken for convenience and keeping the surging Covid-19 cases in mind.

According to a Shiv Sena MLA, NCP chief Sharad Pawar indirectly suggested that the discontent among the legislators must be pacified. He said that the collective efforts by the key leaders in the government need to be put in, as per the Sena MLA.

MVA has fielded its four candidates -- Sanjay Raut and Sanjay Pawar (Shiv Sena), Praful Patel (NCP) and Imran Pratapgarhi (Congress). MVA is believably short of about 16 votes besides the combined tally of its own members of 153.

On the other hand, the BJP has been preparing aggressively to get its candidate elected. The party enjoys the support of five independent MLAs, including Ravi Rana (Badnera), Mahesh Baldi (Uran), Prakash Awade (Ichalkaranji) and Rajendra Raut (Barshi).

Two members from smaller parties -- Jansurajya and Rashtriya Samaj Party -- have extended their support to the party. It is said to be short of 20 votes after exhausting 106 of its votes.

Significantly, the party might be able to wean away MLA Hitendra Thakur-led BVA from the MVA. The BVA has three MLAs and it had supported the ruling coalition when Thackeray proved a majority in the assembly in 2019.

According to party insiders, senior BJP leader Girish Mahajan was in talks with Thakur for the BVA’s support for the BJP nominees.

The BJP has asked its MLAs to reach Mumbai for a meeting to be held in the presence of the central observer and Union railway minister Ashwini Vaishnaw on Wednesday. Subsequently, the party is expected to shift their MLAs to a Cuffe Parade hotel for two days.

AIMIM said it will consider voting for the MVA candidate if the ruling combine openly approached them for support. “We can go to any extent to defeat BJP, but the MVA should openly come forward and seek our support instead of maintaining secrecy,” said Imtiyaz Jaleel, the party’s Aurangabad MP.

AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi too demanded that the party will take a call if the MVA contacted them. “We have not been contacted by the MVA as yet. We cannot be taken for granted,” he said in Latur.

A Sena leader said that getting AIMIM’s support was tricky. “The MVA, especially Sena will have to pay a political price if their support is taken openly. The MVA can’t indulge in direct talks with the AIMIM. We would like them to abstain if no direct support is extended by them.”

A senior Sena minister said that they have little hope of getting the court nod to allow voting for incarcerated NCP leaders Nawab Malik and Anil Deshmukh. “The permission is given easily in the presidential election, but in RS and Council elections, it all depends on the respective courts and the cases. We have very little hope about the permission.”

Box: Party whip and disqualification of the members

Though the MLAs from the registered parties are bound to follow the whip of the party issued during the election, there is ambiguity over the disqualification of the legislators not following it. “There is no ambiguity at all on this front. The 52nd constitutional amendment has made it clear that the member is liable to be disqualified if he quits the party or defies the order in the election or abstains from voting. The party will propose the disqualification to the speaker of the Assembly and the presiding officer enjoys his discretionary power. The party has the power to condone the act of the MLA in 15 days of the voting,” said Ulhas Bapat, constitution expert. Bapat said that the independents do not have any whip to follow and do not require to show their vote to anybody like it is binding for party MLAs. He, however, said that the Independent MLAs are free to show their vote to representatives of any party he is supporting.