Muristek
New Delhi, June 10
In a setback to Opposition BJP in Rajasthan and one-up for CM Ashok Gehlot, BJP-backed Independent candidate Subash Chandra, a media baron, failed to get the required votes to make it to Rajya Sabha from the state.
The Congress won three of the four seats with candidates Randeep Surjewala polling 43 votes, Mukul Wasnik 42 and Pramod Tiwari 41 in the fiercely fought contest. BJP's Ghanshyam Tiwari, the fourth candidate to sail through from Rajasthan, got 43 votes
Amid reports of cross-voting by BJP's Shobharani Kushwah "belonging to former CM Vasundhara Raje's camp", Chandra secured 30 votes. Kushwah is believed to have voted for Congress' Pramod Tiwari. Apparently, while BJP's Dholpur MLA was voting, party's poll observer Rajendra Rathore took her vote slip, which is against the rules. The BJP demanded that her vote be rejected.
Another BJP MLA, Kailash Chandra Meena, is said to have shown his vote to Congress polling agent Govind Singh Dotasra. Chandra, who earlier claimed to have breached Congress MLAs, got the support of three MLAs of Hanuman Beniwal's RLP. The Congress has 108 MLAs and BJP 71 MLAs in the 200-member Assembly.
While the BJP had 30 surplus votes for the second seat and needed another 11 for its candidate Chandra to sail through, the Congress, in order to win a third seat, required 15 more votes.
With today's election, Surjewala has further cemented his position in Congress hierarchy. He is now a party general secretary, a working committee member, the party media chief and also an RS MP. The Jat leader's loyalty to the Gandhi family paid off as he continues to rise through the party ranks.
Wasnik is a prominent member of the G-23 group. After signing the controversial letter that the G-23 wrote to Congress chief Sonia Gandhi in July 2020 seeking organisational changes and asking for a "full time and active party chief", Wasnik dissociated from the G-23 and returned to party fold, refraining from making anti- party comments in public.
Pramod Tiwari is a former nine-time MLA from Rampur Khas seat in Uttar Pradesh's Pratapgarh.
Sitharaman, Jairam Ramesh among winners in Karnataka
The HD Deve Gowda-led Janata Dal (S) did not win even one Rajya Sabha seat in Karnataka today. On the other hand, the ruling BJP, which had fielded a third candidate Lehar Singh Siroya along with Union Minister Nirmala Sitharaman and actor Jaggesh, won three with Congress' Jairam Ramesh taking the fourth seat.
BJP general secretary CT Ravi said Sitharaman and Ramesh got 46 votes, Jaggesh 44 votes and Siroya 33. "We were winning two seats in Karnataka easily, we got one more as a bonus," Ravi said "There are people in other parties who like the work done by the PM and have faith in him. They have helped us. I would like to thank them too," he said. The BJP had fielded three candidates, Congress two and JD(S) one. JD(S) Srinivas Gowda reportedly voted for the Congress while another MLA HD Ravanna is believed to have shown his ballot paper to state Congress chief DK Shivakumar. — TNS