There was a lot of cross voting in the recently held Rajya Sabha elections. From Odisha, Bihar to Haryana, almost all the faces who cross-voted or abstained were from Congress. What message did these Rajya Sabha elections give to Congress? This was discussed in Khabar Ka Khiladi this week. Senior journalists Ramkripal Singh, Vinod Agnihotri, Piyush Pant, Awadhesh Kumar, Ajay Setia and Anurag Verma were present for the discussion.
Ramkripal Singh: Why does the sun always rotate the earth? Why does the Earth never rotate the Sun? This is because the one who is powerful is the one who manipulates others. The same happened in Odisha, the same happened in Bihar during the Rajya Sabha elections. Leaders take decisions according to immediate benefits. Due to this, ideology often gets marginalized.
Ajay Setia: In all the three states, Congress MLAs have either cross-voted or abstained from voting. In all these three states, Muslim MLAs played an important role in favor of BJP. From this it can be estimated in which direction the country is going. The elected MLAs feel that if we have to develop our area then it is beneficial for them to go with the ruling party.
Avadhesh Kumar: Out of what happened in all the three states, what happened in Haryana was important. The elections held in Odisha highlight the pathetic condition of Congress. When the party becomes weak, if you do not field the candidates of your choice then this kind of situation happens. Four MLAs remained absent in Bihar. It is not just that they have been bought. The leader has to do politics in the state. If my party does not see that kind of future in the state, then the leader takes such decisions.
Piyush Pant: It is true that if any party is not strong at the centre, then such situations arise. The central leadership of Congress has become very weak. We are watching in Haryana. We saw in Odisha. Such situations arise because the central leadership of Congress does not take timely action.
Anurag Verma: In Odisha, Sophia Firodas also rejected the leadership of Congress. This has once again shown that the leadership of Congress is not capable of running the party. Congress leaders are looking for their future. People have started deciding their political future in this election as per their own.
Vinod Agnihotri:This is the age of market, not of ideas. Now everyone looks at themselves and their political interests first. Where Congress’s votes were more than BJP’s, then BJP’s government is formed and Congress goes to the third position. In such a situation, the winners win by their strength. In such a situation, the MLAs who won in Odisha looked after their own interests. He saw the benefit in going with power.