New Delhi: High drama is expected during the voting for Rajya Sabha elections where much is at stake for ace lawyer Ram Jethmalani, liquor baron Vijay Mallya and several others.

Maverick lawyer Jethmalani even walked off a CNN IBN interview a few days ago. But the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which is supporting him, is hoping that his maverick ways won't come in the way of his Rajya Sabha elections. The party has even locked up its MLAs in a hotel near Jaipur just to ensure that

The lawyer is more then hopeful he would get the two votes he needs to see him through and says he is "1000 per cent" confident of his win.

The BJP needs 82 votes to get its two nominees Jethmalani and VP Singh through to the Upper House from Rajasthan. But the fact is the Rajya Sabha election have divided the BJP like never before with a split between the state and the central units in Rajasthan.

In Karnataka it's another high stake battle where Mallya is contesting as an independent but has the backing of the BJP and the Janata Dal (Secular).

"There is no question of anything being dramatically different. I have represented the state of Karnataka in Parliament before," says Mallya.

On the other hand in Orissa, it is a different story altogether where the BJP is supporting a Congress-backed candidate Tara Patnaik so that it can defeat the Biju Janata Dal candidate.

BJP hopes payback BJD and is still smarting from the royal ditch Orissa Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik gave the party ahead of last year's Assembly elections.

Union Minister Anand Sharma, LJP supremo Ram Vilas Paswan, senior Congress leader Oscar Fernandes and former BJP chief M Venkaiah Naidu are among the candidates whose fate will be decided in the biennial elections on June 17.

Share OR Bookmark This News With

| More

EMAIL THIS NEWS

COMMENTS No comments yet