Chandigarh: Haryana Congress on Sunday accused the ruling BJP of attempting to poach its legislators with bribes, escalating tensions ahead of Monday’s high-stakes contest for two Rajya Sabha seats.The allegations, which the BJP denied, follow a frantic scramble by both parties to insulate their lawmakers from the risk of cross-voting in an election that has become a three-way battle.Congress functionaries said they have directed their members to approach police in Shimla, Himachal Pradesh — where 31 of the party’s 37 MLAs are camping since March 13 — to initiate criminal proceedings against senior BJP members.“We asked our MLAs to lodge a formal complaint… for probing the source of the money offered as a bribe,” said BK Hariprasad, All India Congress Committee general secretary in-charge of the state.Shimla SSP Gaurav Singh denied that his office or any subordinate staff received any such complaint till the filing of this report.The BJP, which holds a dominant position in the 90-member assembly with 48 seats—bolstered by three independent allies—dismissed the charges as a sign of internal party distrust. “We have more than sufficient numbers to ensure victory. Hence, why would our leaders approach Congress MLAs?” asked Haryana BJP president Mohan Lal Badoli.The 31 Congress MLAs, who were lodged at two resorts in Kufri near Shimla, were shifted to Kasauli in Solan district amid tight security in the afternoon. They were on their way back to Chandigarh at the time of filing this report.The polls, scheduled for 9 am to 4 pm at the state assembly committee room, involve three candidates — BJP’s Sanjay Bhatia, Congress nominee Karamveer Baudh and independent Satish Nandal, who is backed by a coalition of BJP and independent legislators.While the BJP and Congress hold enough votes to comfortably secure one seat each, the entry of Nandal has injected uncertainty into the arithmetic. Under the open ballot system, MLAs must display their votes to a party agent, but they are not legally bound by party whips.The stakes are particularly high for Congress, which has suffered embarrassing defeats in previous Rajya Sabha elections despite holding the necessary numerical strength.Leader of opposition and CLP leader Bhupinder Singh Hooda, however, on Sunday said, “Our candidate will have a clear victory. It is up to BJP who it wants to send to Rajya Sabha, as it has fielded two candidates.”INLD has two MLAs in the 90-member House.
