Several NDA MLAs were seen arriving at the Radisson Blu Hotel in Jharkhand's Ranchi on Tuesday with just days left for the Rajya Sabha elections.
While many of them said the exercise was just to “chat”, undergo training and stay united, the move has sparked questions of whether there are any poaching fears.
According to BJP MLA Roshan Lal Choudhary, the legislators will stay at the hotel for 48 hours and will only head back after casting votes for the June 18 Rajya Sabha polls.
However, BJP MLA Satyendra Tiwari asserted that no one was being forced to stay and that the exercise was only a show of unity.
“This isn't a kidnapping. No one is being pressured into going; everyone has come willingly. We will spend two days—forty-eight hours—together and enjoy delicious meals. Once we get there, we just send things over. Everyone here is happy,” Tiwari said during a media interaction.
Resort politics is common in India, seen mostly just before elections, a vulnerable time when the likelihood of leaders jumping ship increases.
According to news agency PTI, the BJP-led NDA has 24 MLAs in the Jharkhand Assembly, 21 from the BJP and one each from the LJP (Ram Vilas), AJSU Party and the JD(U).
This figure however is four short of the 28 first-preference votes needed to win the Rajya Sabha polls.
The INDIA bloc surpasses this tally by a huge margin, having 56 MLAs in the state, comprising 34 from the JMM, 16 from the Congress, four from the RJD and two from CPI(ML) Liberation.
When asked about the gap of four MLAs for the NDA on Tuesday, BJP leader Babulal Marandi told reporters: “As I said, there are 81 MLAs; I have repeatedly mentioned that there are 81 votes. These 81 voters will then exercise their choice and cast their votes for the candidate.”
On Thursday, June 18, two Rajya Sabha seats from Jharkhand are going to polls.
One of them fell vacant after the death of JMM co-founder Shibu Soren, and the other due to the completion of BJP member Deepak Prakash's tenure on June 21.
‘They do not trust their own MLAs’
As the NDA moved MLAs to Radisson Blu in Ranchi, JMM Rajya Sabha MP Mahua Maji said that the move indicated that the NDA has no trust in their own MLAs.
“Look at our party, our CM trusts our MLAs so much that he rejected the suggestion of shifting them. JMM MLAs will vote as per the instructions of the party and make our candidates win...,” Maji told news agency ANI.
According to PTI, the majority of NDA MLAs have been shifted to the hotel, and BJP chief whip Naveen Jaiswal has said that the decision to hold a meeting and training for the poll exercise was taken during the NDA legislature party meeting on Monday.
