Voting for the Rajya Sabha elections got underway under a tense atmosphere for the Opposition in Uttar Pradesh where a total of 10 seats are up for grabs. A day after as many as eight Samajwadi Party legislators skipped a dinner hosted by party chief Akhilesh Yadav at his Lucknow residence, the party’s chief whip in the state Assembly, Manoj Kumar Pandey, resigned from his post amid indications that he would join the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party.
As the possibility of him cross-voting in the Rajya Sabha elections became imminent, two other MLAs whose Assembly constituencies fall under the high-profile Amethi and Raebareli Lok Sabha seats said they would listen to their “Antaraatma” (inner voice) and vote accordingly, leading to speculation that they may also go Pandey’s way.
Troubles mounted further for the SP when two other party MLAs were reported to have met Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath in his offices in the Assembly premises while voting was underway on Tuesday. With the distinct possibility that at least five of its MLAs could vote for the rival candidate in the ongoing polls, Akhilesh accused the BJP of “luring” its party leaders.
Manoj Pandey is the sitting MLA from the Unchahar seat in Raebareli. Other Samajwadi Party MLAs in the likely rebel camp include Gauriganj MLA (Amethi) Rakesh Pratap Singh, Gosaiganj MLA (Ayodhya) Abhay Singh, Kalpi MLA Vinod Chaturvedi, and Ambedkarnagar legislator Rakesh Pandey.
The repurcussions of the happenings on Tuesday could aggravate the INDIA bloc’s woes in the Lok Sabha elections slated to be held in April-May this year. Manoj Kumar Pandey, who resigned as the chief whip today, has bagged the Unchchar seat since 2012. He defeated his BJP rival in the 2022 Assembly elections when the saffron party registered its best performance ever in the state.
If he joins the BJP and is fielded from the seat, it could severely dent the Congress’ chances in Raebareli, one of the 17 seats it is set to contest as part of the seat-sharing agreement with the SP for UP. The Congress is learnt to have banked on Pandey’s popularity to win the seat vacated by former party president Sonia Gandhi.
The after-effects of the SP rebellion now could also rub off in the Amethi Lok Sabha constituency. Rakesh Pratap Singh and Abhay Singh, both Thakur leaders from constituencies adjoining Amethi, had defeated BJP in tight contests in the Assembly elections in 2022.
Of the 10 seats up for grabs in the Rajya Sabha, the BJP has fielded 8 candidates while the Samajwadi Party has fielded three.