Jaishankar gets Cong votes too, enters RS

GANDHINAGAR: BJP comfortably won the two Rajya Sabha seats from Gujarat, the voting for which was held in the assembly on Friday. Union external affairs minister S Jaishankar, who won his maiden election to the Upper House, said with his victory, he has established a special relationship with Gujarat. While Jaishankar got 104 votes, the second BJP candidate, Jugalji Thakor, got 105 votes.
With Friday’s victory, BJP’s tally in the 245-member Rajya Sabha has reached
78. There are still four vacancies, which bring down the half-way mark to 121. The total NDA tally with the two victories has reached 115, still six short of the current halfway mark.
Out of the 175 valid votes, Jaishankar got 104 votes against the required 89. The vote of agriculture minister RC Faldu in favour of Jaishankar was declared cancelled due to a technical error. Apart from the 100 MLAs of BJP, NCP MLA Kandhal Jadeja, two BTP MLAs – Chhotu Vasava and Mahesh Vasava - and two rebel Congress MLAs also voted in favour of the BJP nominees.
The two Congress candidates, Chandrika Chudasama and Gaurang Pandya, got 70 votes each. Apart from 69 Congress MLAs, the lone independent MLA, Jignesh Mevani, also voted for the party.
Talking about his ties with Gujarat, Jaishankar said after his victory, “As it is, you have a right over me, but it has increased today.”
He thanked PM Narendra Modi and BJP president Amit Shah, saying: “During my career as a diplomat, I got a great chance of working with the Gujarati community in different countries. Their contribution in the development of the country is laudable. In today’s Union budget, the PM has set a vision of making India a 5 trillion dollar economy. Gujarat will take the lead in achieving this vision.”
State BJP president Jitu Vaghani said, “It is a matter of pride for the state that external affairs minister S Jaishankar will now represent the state.”
Paresh Dhanani, leader of the opposition in the assembly, said BJP attempted to use money power to get Congress MLAs to cross-vote for its candidates. “Except two MLAs, who worked openly in favour of BJP during the Lok Sabha election, none of our MLAs voted for BJP,” he said.