RLD MLAs will vote for BJP in Rajya Sabha elections, will attend CM Yogi’s meeting

Lucknow: Even before the formal announcement of the BJP-Rashtriya Lok Dal pact, the RLD has said that all its nine MLAs in Uttar Pradesh will not only vote for the BJP candidates in the Rajya Sabha elections, but will also vote in a meeting called by Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath here on Monday. Will also participate.
RLD legislature party chief Rajpal Balyan said, “Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath has called a meeting of legislative parties of BJP allies in Lucknow on February 26 at 11 am, in which the voting strategy in the Rajya Sabha elections will probably be discussed the next day and We will be involved in this.”
All nine RLD MLAs will meet their party chief Jayant Chaudhary in Mathura on Sunday. Baliyan also said, ‘There is no truth in the reports of discontent in the party and all our MLAs will vote for BJP candidates.’ The discontent among RLD MLAs came after reports that the SP was trying to garner the support of three RLD MLAs, who were earlier in the Samajwadi Party and still have a good rapport with Akhilesh Yadav.
The absence of three RLD MLAs from the recent Ayodhya yatra organized by the government for all MLAs to have ‘darshan’ of the Ram temple has further increased such speculations. However, Jayant Chaudhary dismissed reports of discontent among his MLAs. He released photographs of all the nine MLAs seen at their Delhi residence.
RLD MLAs hold the key to the victory of BJP’s eighth candidate in the Rajya Sabha elections for 10 seats in the state. Based on their strength in the UP Assembly, both the ruling BJP and the main opposition SP will have no problem in winning seven and three Rajya Sabha seats respectively.
However, the entry of Sanjay Seth as BJP’s eighth candidate has necessitated voting for the 10th seat, as there are now 11 contestants. It is being said that even if BJP gets the votes of all the MLAs of its existing allies (except nine RLD MLAs), the ruling party may still be behind in sufficient numbers to get its eighth candidate elected. On the other hand, even after two Congress MLAs voted in favor of the SP candidate, SP may fall short of two votes to get its third candidate elected.