9 Odisha Congress MLAs to return from Bengaluru ahead of Rajya Sabha voting

Bhubaneswar: Ahead of the Rajya Sabha voting scheduled for tomorrow, nine Congress MLAs from Odisha who had been staying in Bengaluru are set to return to the state today.

The MLAs have been staying at a hotel in Bengaluru since Friday to avoid any possibility of alleged “horse-trading” ahead of the Rajya Sabha election. The move was taken by the Congress to prevent any cross-voting attempts by the BJP.

On Friday evening, the MLAs held a meeting with Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister DK Shivakumar. During their stay, they also visited temples in Mysuru and Mandya on Saturday. The legislators were escorted in buses under a police corridor for the visits.

After lunch today, the MLAs are expected to leave Bengaluru and head to Bhubaneswar.

According to reports, the nine Congress MLAs had travelled to Bengaluru under the leadership of Odisha Pradesh Congress Committee (PCC) president Bhakta Das and were staying together at a hotel in the city. The decision was taken to keep the legislators together ahead of the Rajya Sabha elections scheduled for March 16.

Meanwhile, Congress Legislature Party leader Ramchandra Kadam said that Mohana MLA Dasarathi Gamang has not been answering phone calls from party leaders. However, Kadam expressed hope that Gamang would not vote against the party.

On the other hand, Barabati-Cuttack MLA Sofia Firdous also reacted to the developments. She said that she was not consulted regarding the trip to Bengaluru and that there was no discussion about the selection of the party’s Rajya Sabha candidate. She added that the Pradesh Congress leadership has not been seeking opinions from members on several important matters.