Bengaluru/Bhubaneswar: Amid fears of cross-voting and poaching attempts, Congress has moved eight of its MLAs from Odisha to a resort on the outskirts of Bengaluru ahead of the March 16 Rajya Sabha (RS) polls. Party sources said the legislators will be flown back to Odisha Monday, just hours before voting. While Congress is keeping a hawk eye on its legislators to stymie any possibility of its members shifting their allegiance, Biju Janata Dal (BJD) president Naveen Patnaik has directed his party MLAs to attend mandatory evening “training sessions” at his residence in Bhubaneswar for three days from Friday — ostensibly to familiarise them with Rajya Sabha election procedures and rules.A total of five candidates are contesting for the four RS seats from Odisha. In the 147-member Odisha assembly, governing BJP has 79 MLAs, BJD has 48, while Congress has 14. For RS polls, a candidate needs at least 30 first-preference votes to win a seat. On current strength, two BJP candidates and one BJD nominee are expected to win comfortably.For the fourth seat, BJP has backed Independent candidate Dilip Ray, a former Union minister, while BJD and Congress have jointly fielded Dr Datteshwar Hota. Congress and BJD have the numbers to ensure Hota’s win if there is no cross votingHowever, the presence of Ray has queered the pitch for Congress and BJD and hence the desperation to keep their flocks together.Karnataka deputy chief minister and state Congress president D K Shivakumar, who is overseeing the arrangements for the MLAs’ stay at the Wonderla resort off Mysuru Road near Bidadi, said: “There were concerns of possible cross-voting and attempts to influence MLAs with big offers. As a safeguard, the leadership decided to move them out of the state until voting.”With 79 MLAs and support from three Independents, BJP will have 23 surplus first-preference votes for Ray, after securing the required numbers for its two official candidates, Manmohan Samal and Sujeet Kumar. The votes of two suspended BJD MLAs, Sanatan Mahakud and Arvind Mohapatra, and any possible cross-voting are headwinds that Congress and BJD must guard against. The MLAs housed at the Bengaluru resort are Rajan Ekka, Ashok Das, Appala Kumar Swamy, Mangu Killo, Pavitra Sauntha, Nilamadhav Hikka, Prafulla Pradhan and Satyajeet Gomongo.Shivakumar, along with Karnataka Congress MLAs H C Balakrishna and C P Yogeshwar, visited the resort late Friday evening and held a meeting with the eight legislators. Odisha Congress chief Bhakta Charan Das and AICC secretary Mayur Jayakumar were also present. Commenting on the latest move, Shivakumar said: “Look, I had faced a lot of income tax raids for hosting the Gujarat MLAs in 2017. Even then, we’ll do whatever the party tells us to. These are nothing new.”Odisha Congress legislature party leader Rama Chandra Kadam, who did not travel to Bengaluru, told TOI: “You know how BJP is openly trying to trade MLAs, but all our colleagues remain united.” In August 2017, Shivakumar had played key troubleshooter for the party by hosting 44 Gujarat Congress MLAs at a resort near Bengaluru ahead of the Rajya Sabha election in which senior Congress neta Ahmed Patel was contesting. His role was crucial in helping Patel secure a win.
