Akhilesh Yadav whipped on voting day, surprise a few hours after dinner

Lucknow:

Ahead of voting for 10 Rajya Sabha seats in Uttar Pradesh, the Samajwadi Party suffered a major blow as its Chief Whip in the Assembly resigned this morning. The resignation of Unchahar MLA Manoj Kumar Pandey came hours after 8 MLAs skipped a dinner hosted by party chief Akhilesh Yadav – a cause for concern amid talk of cross-voting in the Upper House elections.

Apart from hurting SP’s prospects in this key election, cross-voting will add to the party’s worries just months before the general elections. The SP will contest 63 Lok Sabha seats in Uttar Pradesh as part of the Bharatiya Janata Alliance and the rebellion would be a major blow just months before the elections.

Earlier, SP chief Akhilesh Yadav had alleged that BJP was pressurizing the party MLAs. “This is how they work. They create fear, threaten people, use agencies or raise any old case and put pressure on them. All this will not work in this election,” he said yesterday. “

However, this morning he was less convinced. He said, “We hope that all the three candidates of Samajwadi Party will win. BJP can adopt all the tactics to win the elections. BJP will make every possible effort to win. Some of our leaders who want personal benefits can join BJP. “

A total of 56 Rajya Sabha seats became vacant this year. 41 candidates were elected unopposed. Of the remaining, 10 are in Uttar Pradesh, four in Karnataka and one in Himachal Pradesh.

There are 11 candidates in the race for the 10 seats in Uttar Pradesh – 8 from the ruling BJP and 3 from the main opposition Samajwadi Party.

The BJP is confident of victory for all its candidates, especially as it has recently secured the support of the Jayant Chaudhary-led Rashtriya Lok Dal. State BJP president Bhupendra Singh Chaudhary said, “We have the support of Nishad Party, Suhail Dev Samaj Party, Apna Dal, Rashtriya Lok Dal and Jansatta Dal. I am confident that all the eight NDA candidates will win.”

Earlier, BJP leaders had claimed that a section of SP MLAs were in touch with them. The Akhilesh Yadav-led party had denied this, but the absence of eight MLAs at last night’s dinner has worried the main opposition.

Speaking to news agency ANI, SP MLA Zahid Baig said, “Not many people came. Maybe they are busy. But if they have taken money (for cross voting), people will not forgive them. “

The eight BJP candidates are former Union Minister RPN Singh, former MP Chaudhary Tejveer Singh, BJP Uttar Pradesh unit general secretary Amarpal Maurya, former Minister of State Sangeeta Balwant (Bind), party spokesperson Sudhanshu Trivedi, former MLA Sadhna Singh, former Agra Mayor Naveen. Are. Jain and Sanjay Seth. SP has fielded actress MP Jaya Bachchan, retired IAS officer Alok Ranjan and Ramji Lal Suman. The BJP has enough numbers to get seven candidates elected, but its move to field an eighth has forced competition. And if cross voting happens then it can be successful.

What is happening in Karnataka, Himachal?

Five candidates are in the fray for four Rajya Sabha seats in Karnataka. The ruling Congress is confident of winning three seats and the BJP-JDS alliance has enough numbers to win at least one seat. But the announcement of the second candidate by the opposition alliance has made it an exciting contest. The ruling Congress has shifted its MLAs to a private hotel without making any changes. State party chief and Deputy Chief Minister DK Shivakumar has ruled out any possibility of cross voting.

Elections are to be held on only one seat in Himachal. Congress has good strength in the assembly, but BJP has forced the contest by fielding its own candidate.