Former MlA from Samajwadi Party (SP) Kishore Samrite, who had played spoilsport during the 2008 elections to upper house, claims that the candidature of Tankha would only increase horse trading. Ironically, in 2008 Tankha could not win Rajya Sabha polls only due to the developments initiated by Samrite.
While talking to ‘The Pioneer’ Samrite said that the BJP has decided to take chance of trying luck to win the third seat also from the State by fielding the third candidate only after the Congress nominated Tankha. He claimed that the BJP would not have gone into the fray for the third seat if the Congress nominated somebody else.
However, Samrite stated that the candidature of Tankha from the opposition triggered hopes for the ruling party as he has been in horse trading on earlier occasion too in 2008 when he was contesting as independent for the Rajya Sabha.
In the present scenario, Congress requires one vote, while BJP needs eight and in such a situation gates for horse trading have been opened and that is not in the interest of democracy, he added.
Samrite was then a Samajwadi Party legislator and now state vice president of Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) that has four legislators in the State assembly whose vote have become crucial.
Whatever the outcome be, Samrite stated that the only loser would be democracy and the people of the state.
In 2008, Samrite had alleged that he had refused the offer of a Congress leader who agreed to pay him Rs 30 lakh in order to vote for Independent candidate Vivek Krishna Tankha, backed by Congress, in Rajya Sabha elections. He also flashed bundle of Rs10 lakh of notes of 1,000 domination before the media claiming that the amount has been sent to him by Congress party managers to vote in favor of Tankha.