LUCKNOW:
BJP sprung a surprise on Monday by fielding three more candidates for the 10 Rajya Sabha seats from UP, thereby triggering a contest on two seats which the
united opposition is hoping to win. The move coincides with SP leader
Naresh Agarwal and his MLA son
Nitin joining BJP and could make the task difficult for BSP candidate
Bhimrao Ambedkar, who is banking on the support from MLAs of Congress, RLD and Nishad Party, apart from the spare votes of SP, to sail through.
Initially, BJP, which has 324 MLAs, had announced candidates for only eight seats which it can comfortably win on its own — a nominee needs 37 votes to win. However, BJP decided to go for the kill for at least one more seat as it has 28 spare votes along with its allies after seeing eight of its candidates through.
Deputy CM
Keshav Prasad Maurya said his party had maximum number of spare votes and it had the first right on the 10th RS seats. “We have 28 spare MLAs after electing 8 candidate,” Maurya told TOI.
