Jaipur: As the date for the Rajya Sabha polls is getting closer the ruling Congress in Rajasthan is sparing no effort to keep its legislators together. The election will be held on June 10. The ruling party which has already shifted its law-makers to a five-star hotel, fearing poaching by the Bharatiya Janata Party, has also sought the help of the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) to stop horse-trading.
The issue came to light on Sunday when Rajasthan Government’s chief whip and cabinet minister Mahesh Joshi visited the office of ACB and submitted a complaint to director general of ACB BL Soni. He requested the latter to keep a watch on those trying to do horse-trading and take stringent action against those involved in such undemocratic acts.
In 2020, when the state witnessed a major political crisis, the Special Operations of Group (SOG) and ACB entered the pitch. At that time, there was an alleged conspiracy to oust the Ashok Gehlot-led Congress government on the pattern of Madhya Pradesh where the BJP engineered the defection in the Congress to set up its own government. Jyotiraditya Scindia snapped his 19-year-old ties with the Congress along with his 22 MLAs.
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In Rajasthan, however, that did not happen. Therefore, the Congress again reached the ACB office after one and a half years. After meeting Soni, Joshi told media persons that money may be used to weaken democracy and put a question mark on fielding Subhahsh Chandra as an Independent candidate in the fray. Chandra is contesting the election with the support of the BJP. Joshi feels that the legislators can be purchased to vote in favour of the independent candidate. Therefore, he informed the ACB office about it, Joshi said.
