Rajasthan CM Ashok Gehlot may have to prove his political management skills once again just as he did in the recently held Rajaya Sabha elections. The task this time is aimed at Presidential Polls which are to be held in July this year, and it looks like 8-10 outside MLAs who had supported Gehlot, may choose the other way.
The situation arises because of the NDA candidate Draupadi Murmu who belongs to the tribal community. The Rajasthan Vidhansabha has 32 MLAs of tribal community as the state has 25 seats reserved for Scheduled Tribes (ST), and six ST MLAs have won general seats.
Out of these 32 seats, the ruling Congress has 17, and the opposition BJP has nine seats. Two seats belong to Bhartiya Tribal Party (BTP), and the remaining four are independents.
Now all eyes are on the two BTP MLAs and four independents. These six have voted in favour of Congress candidates in recently held RS polls, but now the buzz is that these MLAs too are now showing support to the BJP-selected candidate to support the tribe.
BTPs' base in the state is in the tribal belt of South Rajasthan and both the MLAs have won from the reserved seats, so are they likely to support NDA this time.
"We have not decided yet who to support. We will discuss it and decide," said Ramprasad Dindor, one of the BTP MLAs.
Apart from ST MLAs, six Congress turned BSP MLAs may also choose to go the other way as the BSP chief Mayavati has decided to support the NDA candidate.
Although these six MLAs joined Congress in 2019 and are supporting Gehlot since the time of the political crisis of July 2020, in the recently held RS polls, four MLAs, including one minister Rajendra Singh Gudha openly expressed their displeasure with the state government.
Besides this, one of the MLAs, Jogendra Singh Awana, had demanded Mayavati to be made the presidential candidate from Congress. He had also claimed that all his five colleagues are in favour of this demand "as it is a fact that it is Mayavati who made us MLAs and our respect for her will always remain," said Awana.
"I wanted Mayavati Ji to be President and we will discuss if she contacts us, but as of now, we are with Congress," added Awana.
