Congress MLAs fly to Bengaluru from Bhopal as RS poll heat rises; flight delay sparks row

Bhopal, June 9 (SocialNews.XYZ) Congress legislators from Madhya Pradesh left for Bengaluru in a chartered flight from Bhopal's Raja Bhoj Airport on Tuesday, as the party moved to shield its flock ahead of the June 18 Rajya Sabha election.

The departure of 45 to 50 MLAs, some with family members, came amid high political drama after the flight was delayed for hours, prompting Congress' allegations of deliberate obstruction.

The MLAs assembled at the Leader of Opposition (LoP) Umang Singhar's residence on Tuesday morning before travelling to the airport.

The flight's delay by several hours added to the tension as Congress leaders alleged the hold-up was intentional to disrupt their plans.

However, Raja Bhoj Airport Director Ramji Awasthi said the delay was due to technical and procedural reasons.

"The Star Air flight arrived from Bengaluru. It is not a regular flight to Bhopal Airport. We were informed about it only this afternoon. Had there been prior notice, we could have made preparations," Awasthi told IANS.

He added that clearance was given only after a comprehensive flight inspection involving multiple stages.

A second batch was scheduled to leave later on Tuesday evening.

The move to shift its MLAs to Karnataka, where Congress is in power, follows the Bharatiya Janata Party's (BJP) decision to field a third candidate for the Rajya Sabha from Madhya Pradesh, raising fears of cross-voting.

Congress has fielded former MP Meenakshi Natarajan, while the BJP has nominated Rajneesh Agarwal, Tarun Chugh and Mahesh Kevat for the three seats.

"The BJP should focus on keeping its own MLAs united. We have full faith in all 62 legislators, but we must remain vigilant against the BJP's politics of poaching and subversion," Singhar said, defending the decision to move its MLAs to a Congress-ruled state.

The political maneuvering is rooted in the Assembly arithmetic.

In the 230-member House, a candidate needs 58 first-preference votes to win. The BJP has 165 MLAs. It needs 116 votes to secure two seats, leaving a surplus of 49.

With Kevat as the third candidate, the BJP is short of nine to 10 votes and would need support from other MLAs to win all three. Congress has 62 MLAs, enough to elect Natarajan with a slim surplus of four votes.

But even limited cross-voting could cost the Congress the seat and allow the BJP a sweep.

Natarajan and Kevat filed nominations on Monday.

With voting and counting set for June 18, both parties are now in a tight floor-management battle.

For the Congress, keeping its MLAs together in Bengaluru until the polling day has become critical to avoid another political setback in the state.

Source: IANS