The Congress party on Friday accused the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) of indulging in corruption ahead of Rajya Sabha election scheduled for June 19.
Congress spokesperson Abhishek Manu Singhvi alleged that BJP has been pressurising its MLAs in the Gujarat Assembly to 'manufacture artificial numbers' just before the Rajya Sabha polls for four vacant seats.
Abhishek Manu Singhvi during a press conference on Friday said that the "BJP government has made the election process corrupt and is using everything to manufacture artificial numbers in the state. BJP is indulging in dirty games."
Singhvi also said, "The BJP government saw the coronavirus crisis as an opportunity and used money power and muscle power to influence the Rajya Sabha elections.
The Congress said as per the House strength, out of the four seats vacant in the state two would have been won by it and two by the BJP, but the BJP has fielded five candidates. The Congress alleged that its MLA Panjbhai Vansh has been called four times for questioning in an unrelated case and on Friday also he was called for this. The party has raised this issue with the Election Commission, the Congress said.
The party alleged that during the polls the BJP modus operandi is to lure or pressurise the MLAs. Singhvi said, "The kind of resources the BJP has, the Congress can't match. Secondly, we have high regard for the Constitution."
In Gujarat, there are five candidates in the fray for the Rajya Sabha polls slated for June 19. The Congress has fielded Shakti Singh Gohil and Bharat Singh Solanki while the BJP has fielded Narhari Amin as the fifth candidate which has forced elections for the seats. Three more MLAs of the Congress have resigned reducing the party number in the state to 65. It needs six more votes to get the second seat.
While Singhvi refused to reveal its numbers in the state, the Congress in-charge of the state Rajeev Satav said they are going to win the second seat and are comfortably placed.
The BJP has 103 MLAs in the Assembly and it also requires three more votes to get the third seat in the state. For this, the BJP has to do more poaching in the opposition camps, said the Congress. Gujarat is repeating history when in 2017, despite six MLAs resigning, Ahmed Patel won after two votes were declared invalid.
(Inputs from Agencies)
