New Delhi: As the numbers look comfortable in Himachal Pradesh, Congress fears poaching of MLAs by the BJP and is rushing senior AICC functionaries to secure the newly-elected lawmakers.
According to sources, AICC in charge of Himachal Pradesh Rajeev Shukla, Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel -- who is also the AICC observer for the hill state, and former Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda has been asked to reach Shimla to ensure the newly-elected MLAs are safe.
The party is mulling to shift the MLAs out of Himachal Pradesh with sources saying that they may be sent via Chandigarh to Chhattisgarh, one of two states where the Congress is in power, to prevent the BJP from trying to poach them.
Earlier sources told ETV Bharat that the party will take steps to secure the MLAs, however, whether they will be moved out was not decided yet. "Everyone knows how the BJP plays its dirty tricks,” a senior AICC functionary said on condition of anonymity.
Asked about party moving MLAs out of Himachal, Congress leader Vikramaditya Singh said, "We will do everything to protect doemocracy as BJP can do anything".
As per the latest trends, Congress is leading in 40 out of 68 seats -- which is above the halfway mark needed to form a government in Himachal -- while the BJP was leading in 24, leaving a clear-cut gap between the two rivals. The Himachal victory is crucial for the Congress, which is likely to face a drubbing in Gujarat, while the BJP appeared set for a record win after being in power for 27 years in the western state.
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Despite the projections that the Congress would be above the halfway mark in Himachal, there is a concern within the AICC that the saffron party may try to snatch its victory by poaching party MLAs.
The top BJP leaders had been claiming during the campaign that the hill state would buck the trend of changing the ruling party every five years and would throw up a saffron party government for the second consecutive term. The Congress campaign instead was based on the need for change to bring Himachal back on the track of development.
The AICC managers are concerned over the past examples in Goa, Maharashtra, Karnataka, and Uttarakhand where Congress lost the power game to the BJP’s ability to lure away its lawmakers. Similar attempts had been made by the saffron party during the recent Rajya Sabha polls also when the Congress managers had to fly the party’s Haryana MLAs to Chhattisgarh and lock up the Rajasthan MLAs at a hotel in Udaipur to foil the BJP’s attempts to poach them.
The BJP was trying to ensure numbers for the two media barons who were contesting the Rajya Sabha polls as independent candidates -- Subhash Chandra in Rajasthan and Kartik Sharma in Haryana.
While Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot was able to ensure the victory of the party’s Rajya Sabha nominees Randeep Surjewala, Mukul Wasnik and Pramod Tewari, CLP leader in Haryana Bhupinder Hooda failed to get party nominee Ajay Maken elected due to cross-voting by two party MLAs, allowing the BJP backed Kartik Sharma to sail through.
“The BJP has the money and power to buy out the MLAs. Though we are confident that our newly elected MLAs would be loyal, we need to be alert and keep them at a safe location,” said a Steering Committee member. “The two assembly polls are crucial for the party and we need to have a one each score against the BJP. Both Bhupesh Baghel and Bhupinder Hooda are capable of negating the BJP’s gameplan,” he said.
