Tankha files nomination for Rajya Sabha, again

By IANS

Bhopal : The Congress supported nominee for Rajya Sabha from Madhya Pradesh, Vivek Tankha, Saturday filed a third set of nomination papers, this time in the presence of leader of Samajwadi Party (SP) in the assembly Sunilam, indicating that the SP lawmakers will support him.


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“We have decided to support Tankha as per the communiqué of our national president Mulayam Singh Yadav,” Sunilam told media persons.

Tankha, former advocate general and Supreme Court lawyer, had earlier Friday filed two sets of nomination papers with the assembly’s Returning Officer A.K. Pyasi.

Caught in the numbers game, the opposition Congress was Friday compelled to field Tankha as its candidate for Rajya Sabha as an independent since the Samajwadi Party decided not to support the candidate of the Congress or the BJP.

Three Rajya Sabha seats from Madhya Pradesh are falling vacant. They are at present with Suresh Pachouri of the Congress, BJP’s Maya Singh and Samajwadi Party leader Obaidullah Azmi.

Going by the numbers, while the BJP is all set to send two of its nominees to the Rajya Sabha from the state, a contest for the third seat has become inevitable.

The Congress was going to field Tankha as its party candidate but it had to change its plans at the last moment when the Samajwadi Party Thursday refused to extend support.

The BJP has 166 lawmakers in the house of 230 and needs eight more to bag all three seats. The Congress has 41 lawmakers and needs 17 more to reach the figure of 58 for its candidate.

“We will easily get the support of the 17 lawmakers required,” said Leader of Opposition Jamuna Devi. She, however, refused to comment on why Tankha has been fielded as an independent instead of a Congress candidate.

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