We Have the Support of Our MLAs: Bhupinder Hooda Ahead of Rajya Sabha Elections

The Congress MLAs have been moved to a resort in Chhattisgarh.

Congress Leader Bhupinder Hooda asserted the party's win in the RS polls.

(Photo: The Quint)

Congress leader and former Chief Minister of Haryana, Bhupinder Hooda, has claimed that the party enjoys the support of all the MLAs and that Congress will win the Rajya Sabha elections due on 10 June.

The claim comes amidst reports of one of the MLAs being missing from the Mayfair Resort in Chattisgarh where the ministers have been staying.

"We have the support of all our MLAs, we have 31 MLAs (of Haryana Congress) with us but one is ill," the leader was quoted as saying by news agency ANI.

The party had shifted its ministers to Raipur, Chhattisgarh, ahead of the elections to prevent the chances of cross-voting. Chattisgarh CM, Bhupesh Baghel, also asserted the party's win.

"One candidate is with BJP & one is with Congress...we are confident that we'll win...Ajay Maken will win the seat," he said in a statement, reported by ANI.

In Haryana, two seats are up for election, and the battle for them has begun in earnest. The Congress has fielded Ajay Maken while Krishan Lal Panwar is representing the Bhartiya Janata Party.

Resort Politics By Parties

Parties have resorted to usual "resort politics" in the poll bound states.

In Rajasthan, the Bhartiya Janata Party, as well as the ruling Congress Party, moved their MLAs to a resort in Jaipur and Udaipur respectively. The BJP sent around 60 MLAs to Devi Ratn, a five-star hotel in Jaipur whilst the Congress moved its MLAs to a resort in Udaipur where the party recently held the Chintan Shivir.

A similar strategy has been used in Maharashtra with the Shiv Sena moving its MLAs to the Trident Hotel in Mumbai in an attempt to ward off poaching.

The Elections

On 10 June, elections will be held to fill the 57 Rajya Sabha seats that will become vacant due to the retirement of members at varying times between June and August. Union minister Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi, Congress leaders Ambika Soni, Jairam Ramesh, and Kapil Sibal, and BSP's Satish Chandra Misra are among those who would step down.

Forty-one seats have already been filled as the candidates have been elected unopposed in eleven states. The battle, however, is still on in four states- Maharashtra, Haryana, Rajasthan and Karnataka.

(With inputs from ANI)