BHOPAL: The tussle for Rajya Sabha seats between the BJP and the ruling Congress is surely going to intensify as the saffron party has decided to field two candidates for three Rajya Sabha seats in Madhya Pradesh that will go to polls on March 26.

A meeting of BJP state election committee chaired by newly appointed chief VD Sharma, convened here on Sunday at the party's state head office, forwarded names of probable in the panel for the two seats. The party's central election committee will finalise the names, he said.

"We have decided to contest two Rajya Sabha seats in the upcoming elections. We are hopeful to win one and keeping our options open for the other seat. We are confident to win the other seats too," Sharma told TOI.

The BJP leaders however, denied disclosing the name and number of candidates forwarded to the party high command. He said the election committee members had spoken to some claimants on phone and in person after which a tentative list of candidates was prepared to be forwarded to the central election committee. The meeting was attended by Leader of Opposition (LoP) Gopal Bhargava, Rajya Sabha member Prabhat Jha, former state chief Satyanarayan Jatia and former minister and MLA Rajendra Shukla.

Going by numbers, the BJP has 107 members in the state assembly and require at least 58 votes to win one seat. For two seats the party need support of 116 MLAs which will require support of nine additional MLAs to win the second Rajya Sabha seat. The BJP decision came amid high political drama in the state where the party is facing horse trading allegations by luring ruling party MLAs.

The BJP has one more threat of losing two of its MLAs including Narayan Tripathi from Maihar and Sharad Kol from Beohari, who had voted earlier with the Congress and keeping a constant touch with chief minister Kamal Nath . This will add to the vows of the saffron party, said sources.

Among strong claimants for the Rajya Sabha seats, the BJP is likely to promote name of its national general secretary Ram Madhav. Other senior leaders including Prabhat Jha, Uma Bharti, Kailash Vijayavargiya, Vinod Gotia, Omprakash Dhurve and Deepak Vijayavargiya were also under consideration.

Both BJP and the ruling Congress have chalked out strategy to keep their flock of MLAs together to prevent any cross voting in the Rajya Sabha polls . The BJP leadership has also asked the legislators to stay alert and promptly inform them in case they are approached by the rival camp in connection with the elections. Both the parties claim to clearly win one seat each however, the tussle is for the third seat.

The Congress with 114 members in the assembly has support of four independents, two BSP and one SP members that take its tally in the House to 121. Two seats are currently vacant in the 230-member house. The Congress will require support of only two additional members to win a second seat. However, amid discontentment in the party, as some MLAs are still missing even after five days after the political drama unfolded, the Congress is yet to finalise names for the Rajya Sabha elections.

"We are winning two Rajya Sabha seats as all the Congress MLAs and our alliance partners have assured support to us. The BJP will be wiped out in the elections," claimed state public relations minister PC Sharma, on Sunday.

