Bhopal, March 4 The Rajya Sabha elections are thought to be the centre of political turmoil currently under way in Madhya Pradesh.
As per the arithmatic, the Congress and BJP are sure to get one seat each from the state for the indirect Rajya Sabha polls. The tussle is for the third seat for which non-BJP and non-Congress MLAs are being lured by rival parties.
The term of Congress' Digvijaya Singh, BJP's Satyanarayan Jatiya and Prabhat Jha is coming to end and the elections are due this month. While the two rival parties are sure to get one seat each, for the third seat, the Congress needs the support of two MLAs while the BJP needs at least nine MLAs.
In the 230-member Madhya Pradesh Assembly, the Congress has 114 MLAs, followed by the BJP with 107. The simple majority mark is 116.
The Congress came to power in Madhya Pradesh in 2018 after 15 years of BJP rule with the support of 4 Independents, 2 BSP and 1 SP MLAs.
For a Rajya Sabha seat from Madhya Pradesh, a party needs 58 MLAs' support. That's why he rival parties are sure to get one seat each.
In the past two days, there have been allegations of "buying" support of BSP, SP and Independent MLAs. There have been reports of nine MLAs belonging to these parties having been brought to Delhi. Seven of these MLAs were kept in a Gurugram hotel from where the Congress claims to have "freed" Rambai, a BSP MLA.
Within the Congress, Digvijaya Singh and Jyotiraditya Scindia are said to be the main two candidates. The BJP is keen on winning the third seat.
Sources said the "political bargaining" would intensify in the days to come as the nomination papers are to be filed by March 13. The elections are due on March 26.
( With inputs from IANS )