History and Politics often go hand in hand and set landmark precedents to recur with similar stories but new characters. The upcoming biennial polls for two vacant Rajya Sabha seats in Haryana have triggered a cat and mouse play with the beleaguered Congress shifting its 28 MLAs to a Raipur resort to prevent poaching from independent candidate Kartikeya Sharma. Coincidently, the super luxurious Mayfair Lake Resort hosting the Congress MLAs from Haryana is owned by former union minister Dilip Ray who won a similar RS contest through cross-voting from his home state Odisha in 2002.
The election for two RS seats lying vacant in Haryana is scheduled for June 10. The Congress party has the strength of 31 MLAs which is a sufficient number to send its candidate Ajay Maken to the upper house of the Indian parliament. The Congress arithmetic, however, has gone awry with the candidature of Kartikeya Sharma, son of former minister Vinod Sharma. Panicked Congress thus brought 28 out of its 31 MLAs to a Super-luxurious resort in Raipur.
The choice of the resort, however, reminds a similar contest for the Rajya Sabha polls in 2002 when former union minister Dilip Ray, orchestrated cross-voting by at least 15 Biju Janata Dal (BJD) MLAs despite Chief Minister Nabin Patnaik leaving no stone unturned to ensure the defeat of Ra, an independent candidate.
Highly resourceful Ray who now heads a chain of super-luxury Mayfair Lake Resort was Union minister for Coal, Steel, and parliamentary affairs in the Atal Behari Vajpayee-led NDA government. His success in penetrating the BJD fortress despite CM Nabin Patnaik’s open disgust for him was then construed as a stunning political event in Odisha politics. His resort is now hosting Congress MLAs to prevent poaching efforts from Kartikeya Sharma who is equally resourceful.
Dushyant Chautala led Jananayak Janata Party’s (JJP) 10 MLAs, along with 6 surplus BJP votes, and some independent MLAs are backing Sharma taking his total support tally to 28. He needs 3 more votes to secure the win, and for that to happen he would have to wrest at least three votes from the Congress camp.
Vinod Sharma a media baron with deep pockets is considered highly resourceful to make it happen. Perhaps, this could be the reason, why the grand old party is so panicked that it has sent its 28 MLAs to the super luxurious May-Fair resort in Nava Raipur? The move was aimed at preventing poaching attempts by the ruling BJP-JJP alliance and the Sharma family who wields enormous influence in Haryana.