The polling for all five State Assemblies came to a close on Monday and with three days to go before the results are declared, hectic political parleys have begun among the stakeholders to cover all possible contingencies and risks.
The Congress, which in 2017 lost both Goa and Manipur despite being the single largest party in these States, is already working towards arranging possible safe houses to keep the elected legislators from getting poached.
In preparation, Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra arrived in Jaipur. She was accompanied by Congress Working Committee member and party’s trouble shooter Rajeev Shukla. Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot received the two at the Sanganer airport. Ostensibly, Ms. Vadra’s visit is to attend a programme of a non-governmental organisation in Jaipur on Monday evening and flag off a girls’ marathon, marking the International Women’s Day, on Tuesday morning before her departure to Lucknow.
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But speculation is rife that the agenda of the visit is also to ensure that suitable places can be arranged to sequester the elected Congress MLAs, especially those from Goa and Uttarakhand, where the elections are headed for a photo-finish. Both State in-charges, P. Chidambaram for Goa and Devendra Yadav for Uttarakhand, are also in touch with Mr. Gehlot and also Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel.
The issue of protecting the newly elected legislators had also come up at a meeting of Congress leader Rahul Gandhi with Mr. Gehlot and Mr. Baghel in New Delhi on February 27.
Channi in Delhi
In a separate development, Punjab Chief Minister Charanjit Singh Channi came to Delhi to meet Home Minister Amit Shah. Earlier in the day, Mr. Shah also had a closed door meeting with Mr. Channi’s predecessor and now BJP ally Captain Amarinder Singh. There was no word on what was on the agenda in these meetings, but sources indicate that predictions about a possible sweep by the Aam Aadmi Party in the State could be a factor.
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