The BJP on Tuesday carted off its MLAs to a hotel in Jaipur for a three-day Prakshikshan Shivir (training camp). The legislators of the saffron party gathered at the state BJP office in the morning for a meeting and from there left for a luxury hotel on the Jaipur-Tonk Highway in buses and cars.
Out of 72 BJP MLAs eight, including Former chief minister Vasundhara Raje were not present. They are expected to join later. BJP also has the support of four MLAs of Rashtriya Loktantrik Party (RLP). Senior leaders P Murlidhar Rao and V Satish were also present at the legislator body meet.
State BJP chief Satish Poonia came down heavily on the Congress and said, “300 persons have died in the state and the government is busy enjoying musical evenings, the public is watching. The chief minister talks of hose trading we have seen elephant trading in this and previous governments headed by Ashok Gehlot.” Poonia was referring to the merger of all six Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) MLAs into Congress through Ashok Gehlot in his second and current (third) tenure as chief minister.
Poonia said, “Congress is a brand when it comes to horse trading. It had tried to destabilize the Bhairon Singh Shekhawat government. We have no apprehensions of cross voting. We are not scared as we have nothing to lose.” However at the same time he also said that both parties have a history of being engaged in horse trading.
While both parties have ensured luxurious stay for their legislators who are being holed up prior to the Rajya Sabha polls, what makes their sojourn different is that while the Congress has put up its MLAs at a seven star resort, the BJP has sent its flock to a five star hotel. Apart from a few sessions the Congress MLAs are very much free to their own thing, the ones from BJP will have a packed schedule that begins with Yoga at 6 am and spread across various workshops and motivational sessions. They will also be explained about how to go back to the people to share the achievements of the Narendra Modi Government.
