RS polls: SP MLA alleges bribe by Congress

Bhopal, Mar 18 (UNI) Samajwadi Party (SP) legislator Kishor Samrite today alleged that main Opposition Congress in Madhya Pradesh Assembly gave him a bribe for voting in favour of Independent candidate Vivek Krishna Tankha in the elections for three Rajya Sabha seats from the State.

''Former Congress Minister N P Prajapati came to my residence tonight and gave me Rs 10 lakh as advance. The ten bundles of notes of Rs 1,000 denomination are still in my residence. Several senior Congress leaders were in touch with me to vote for Mr Tankha. I have alerted police and will complain to the returning officer tomorrow,'' Mr Samrite told journalists at his residence here.

Superintendent of Police Jaideep Prasad however said that no such complaint was received so far.

In a release, Leader of the Opposition Jamuna Devi denounced the allegation as a ''conspiracy'' of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) that had made Mr Samrite a ''victim''.

''Mr Samrite told the press yesterday that he will not vote for Mr Tankha. Therefore, there is no question of asking for his vote.

Mr Samrite's behaviour is always unbalanced and he has been issuing controversial statements from time to time,'' she said.

In the 231-member Assembly, the BJP has 166 members and is therefore certain to win two of the Rajya Sabha seats but is eight votes short of the figure of 58 required to bag the third seat. The Congress, with 41 members, needs 17 more votes to ensure that former advocate-general V K Tankha emerges victorious.

The SP has 8 MLAs, Gondwana Ganatantra Party 3, Rashtriya Samanta Dal 2, Bahujan Samaj Party 2, Independents 2, Communist Party of India (Marxist) 1 and Janata Dal (United) 1.

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