“Many leaders in the Congress are not happy with their party’s candidate for the June 18 elections. Many Congress leaders also want to quit the party, if our party even decides at the last moment to field a third candidate, we will ensure that our third candidate also emerges victorious,” Singh said.
About three kilometers away, senior Congress leaders welcomed Natrajan at the state party headquarters.
Expressing confidence in her prospects, state Congress president and Leader of Opposition Umang Singhar said all Congress MLAs were united behind the party’s official candidate.
“Let the BJP speculate and field their third candidate, but our MLAs will unite to ensure the victory of our candidate,” Singhar said.
In the 230-member Madhya Pradesh Assembly, each Rajya Sabha candidate requires 58 votes to win. With 164 MLAs, the BJP is comfortably placed to secure both its official candidates. The Congress, which technically has 61 MPs, has a margin of only three votes.
If the BJP fields a third candidate or supports an influential independent, it would require nine to 10 Congress MLAs to vote or abstain on June 18 to secure the third seat.
Speculation about a possible third BJP candidate has been fueled not only by statements from party leaders but also by perceptions within the BJP that some Congress MLAs loyal to senior leaders such as Kamal Nath and Arun Yadav – who were both in the running for a Rajya Sabha nomination – could influence the prospects of the party’s official candidate.
Rejecting such suggestions, state Congress chief Jitu Patwari said the party remains united.
“The entire Congress party is united, the Saturday evening RS poll meeting was also attended through online mode by senior leaders, including Kamal Nath, Digvijaya Singh and Vivek Tankha, who have declared that they will ensure Meenakshi Natrajan’s victory,” Patwari said.
