Four out of six Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) MLAs in Rajasthan who joined Congress are now expressing dissatisfaction with the party. Their displeasure comes at a time when Congress is in desperate need of votes for its third Rajaya Sabha candidate.
"Yes, we are not happy as the commitment made by Congress has not been fulfilled yet," said Rajendra Gudha, one of the BSP MLAs and minister in the Ashok Gehlot government.
Talking to the media in Jaipur on Friday, Gudha said, "Ajai Maken who is the state in charge of Congress, has not fulfilled his commitment. We are still facing the case in the Supreme Court and don’t know what will be the decision regarding our membership in the Assembly. We supported the Congress for the welfare of our voters, but our colleagues are not getting the similar support and respect."
When asked if the Gehlot government expresses its gratitude to the BSP MLAs for saving his government, Gudha said, "CM speaks a lot that he did this or that in front of the media. Instead, it would have been better if he sat and talked with us."
Notably, all six BSP MLAs of Rajasthan had joined Congress and supported the Gehlot government at the time of his political crisis in 2020. In return for their support, Gehlot inducted Gudha into the council of ministers and another MLA, Jogendra Singh Awana, was appointed as the chairman of the Devnarayan Board, while four other MLAs who joined Rajasthan Congress are still waiting for their due.
Now at the time when Congress is short of the required number of votes for their third Rajya Sabha candidate, four BSP MLAs are distancing themselves from Congress. These MLAs have refused to go to Udaipur where all other Congress and supporting MLAs are enjoying a luxury stay to prevent ‘poaching’.
Meanwhile, Gudha has said that "Udaipur is a good city but not for a locked stay in the hotel."
It is to mention here that the third candidate of Congress needs 41 votes of the priority to win but is short of the required numbers and Congress is relying upon 13 independents and MLAs from other parties including, BSP and it is proving to be an uphill task for CM Ashok Gehlot to arrange the required votes.
