Ahead of the much crucial Rajya Sabha elections scheduled to take place on June 10, Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena on Tuesday shifted its MLAs from a resort in suburban Malad to a five-star hotel in south Mumbai in order to avoid poaching attempts by Opposition party. While speaking to news agency ANI, Sena MLA Prakash Surve said that all MLAs are being shifted to Trident Hotel from Malad where a meeting will take place soon.
According to latest report, all Sena MLAs have reached Trident hotel. Rajya Sabha polls in Maharashtra will take place after over two decades (22 years) on June 10 as candidates have usually been elected unopposed.
Another senior party leader said that all legislators of Shiv Sena have been summoned to Mumbai and they will stay together till the polls on June 10. Currently, Shiv Sena has 55 MLAs (one MLA had died due to a heart attack last month) in the 288-member Upper House.
"We were in 'The Retreat' (at Madh island in northwest Mumbai) and all our ministers too were present there. That was part of our strategy. We will be moving to hotel 'The Trident' (in south Mumbai) today," Sena MLA and party spokesperson Sunil Prabhu told news ageny PTI.
A candidate needs the support of 42 MLAs to win the Rajya Sabha elections. Currently, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has a total of 105 MLAs, Shiv Sena has 55, Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) has 54 and Congress has 42 MLAs.
Additionally, other regional parties, including independent candidates make a total of 29 MLAs.
The movement of MLAs from Malad to hotel in Mumbai comes days after Maharashtra Chief Minister Thackeray met the Shiv Sena MLAs as well as others supporting his party.
Sena decided to corral its MLAs after accusing the opposition BJP of "horse-trading" and using Central agencies to pressure independent MLAs.
Sena has fielded two candidates - Sanjay Raut and Sanjay Pawar - while the BJP has nominated Union minister Piyush Goyal, Anil Bonde and Dhananjay Mahadik. The NCP has fielded Praful Patel and the Congress has named Imran Pratapgarhi as its candidates for Rajya Sabha polls.
As per the current permutations and combinations in the Upper House, BJP has enough votes to win two seats, while the Sena, NCP and Congress can win one seat each. However, even the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) has enough votes together to ensure the victory for the second candidate of the Sena.