RS polls: 8 Odisha Congress MLAs move to resort near Bengaluru

Ahead of the March 16 Rajya Sabha elections, eight MLAs of the opposition Congress from Odisha have been shifted to Bengaluru and are staying at a private resort on the city’s outskirts amid fears that the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party in the eastern State might attempt to poach them.

According to sources, the MLAs arrived in Bengaluru on Thursday night along with their families and were taken to a private resort in Bidadi under the supervision of Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister D.K. Shivakumar.

Who is in Bengaluru

Mr. Shivakumar and senior Congress leaders in Karnataka met Odisha PCC chief Bhakta Charan Das and the visiting MLAs on Friday evening. Odisha MLAs staying at the resort are: Rajan Ekka, Ashok Das, Appala Kumar Swamy, Mangu Killo, Pavitra Sauntha, Nilamadhav Hikka, Prafulla Pradhan and Sathyajit Gomongo.

However, Mr. Shivakumar said he had not brought the legislators to Bengaluru and that they had arrived on their own. “The Odisha PCC president called me and said they were coming to Bengaluru. It must be a party matter. When they said they were coming, I said they could come. They wanted a comfortable place and we arranged it,” he told reporters.

When asked whether the party had entrusted him with the task of preventing cross-voting in the Rajya Sabha elections, Mr. Shivakumar said he would do whatever the party asked him to do. “This happens in all States; it is nothing new,” he said, adding that the MLAs had expressed their desire to meet him after the Karnataka Assembly session.

Asked if the move was aimed at preventing another “Operation Lotus”, he said the MLAs had told him they preferred to stay in Bengaluru as it was safe. “It is our duty to take care of them. I have been doing this since the days of the Vilasrao Deshmukh government and have handled similar situations many times, including during the Rajya Sabha election of Ahmed Patel,” he said.

Responding to a question on whether he was acting as a “trouble-shooter” for the party while his own political issues remained unresolved, Mr. Shivakumar said, “Time will decide.”

Strength in Odisha

In the 147-member Odisha Assembly, the BJP has 79 members, BJD (51), Congress (14) and others (3). Sources said six Congress MLAs, meanwhile, remain in Bhubaneswar to attend the ongoing Budget session of the Assembly.

Four Rajya Sabha seats from Odisha are going to the polls, and five candidates are in the fray. The Congress and BJD have jointly fielded Datteshwar Hota, urologist and former Director of Odisha Medical University. In the 147-member Assembly, the Biju Janata Dal is certain of one seat, while the BJP is expected to win two seats. Neither party has the required 30 first preference votes to secure the fourth seat.