BHOPAL : For a change, the Congress beat the BJP in election management. The party not only remained united but successfully ensured that all its MLAs cast their votes in favour of the party’s candidate Vivek Tankha.
Tankha secured 62 votes. All the 57 party MLAs voted for him and so did four BSP MLAs and a lone Independent.
Kamal Nath and PCC president Arun Yadav managed the show during the voting. They were seen counting each and every vote at the polling venue. Nath was seen pulling up MLAs who reached late. Yadav’s tone, however, was friendly. While talking to the PCC president, one of the MLA said “Even in my election I did not vote as early in the day as I did this time”.
As soon as the elections were announed, the PCC president started its preparations. He began contacting MLAs and an exercise to identify ‘weak links’ was launched. The party was in the know of the fact that BJP was raring to poach on its contingent.
While Yadav remained in the background, Kamal Nath, Digvijay Singh, Kantilal Bhuria and Suresh Pachori were at the forefront. Moles were planted among the MLAs to get feedback on their activities. The party had asked all its satraps to ensure that their loyalists vote for Tanka.
Of course, the support of the BSP came as big morale booster for the Congress. After Mayawati issued a whip to the four MLAs of her party to vote for the Congress. But even after that, the party leaders did not relax as is evident by the party’s decision to confine its MLAs to a hotel on Friday night.
