These hotly contested states set to witness horse-trading and cross-voting

Ahead of the June 10 Rajya Sabha polls, political temperatures were soaring in several states that could see close contests, with parties trying to keep their flock together and trading accusations of poaching of MLAs.

After more than two decades, Maharashtra will witness a contest in the Rajya Sabha polls as there are seven candidates in the fray for six seats.

The Shiv Sena has decided to shift its MLAs to a five-star hotel in south Mumbai to ward off overtures and the ruling MVA leaders were holding talks with smaller parties and Independents backing the tripartite dispensation.

The BJP has asked its MLAs to come to Mumbai in the next two days.

"We were in 'The Retreat' (at Madh island in northwest Mumbai) and all our ministers too were present there. We will be moving to hotel 'The Trident' (in south Mumbai)," Sena MLA and party spokesperson Sunil Prabhu said.

The Trident is a stone's throw from the Maharashtra Legislative Assembly where voting will take place.

In the 288-member House, smaller parties have 16 MLAs together while the number of Independents is 13.

A total of seven candidates- BJP (3), Shiv Sena (2), NCP (1), and Congress (1)- are in the fray for the six RS seats.

The contest for the sixth seat is between BJP's Dhananjay Mahadik and Sena's Sanjay Pawar.

In Rajasthan, the BJP wrote to the Enforcement Directorate and the Rajasthan chief electoral officer, expressing apprehensions about horse-trading and the use of black money in the Rajya Sabha polls.

The Leader of Opposition in the state Assembly, Gulab Chand Kataria, Rajasthan BJP president Satish Poonia, Deputy Leader of Opposition Rajendra Rathore and party whip Jogeshwar Garg accused the Congress of misusing government machinery to intimidate MLAs.

Their reaction came as Rajasthan police serve a notice to BJP legislator Chandrakanta Meghwal in a five-year-old assault case.

Meghwal, who is camping in Jaipur with other MLAs of the party ahead of elections to the upper house, did not appear at the police station in Kota.

After the notice, the opposition BJP accused Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot of hatching a conspiracy but an aide of the Congres leader dismissed the charge saying the case against Meghwal was registered when the BJP was in power.

The Congress had shifted its MLAs to Udaipur on June 2, saying it fears horse-trading by the BJP.

Congress leader Mahesh Joshi gave a letter to the chief electoral officer demanding action against alleged horse-trading attempts.

Joshi, however, did not name anyone or any party in the complaint. He had also given a similar complaint to the Anti-Corruption Bureau on Sunday.

Elections to four seats of the Rajya Sabha from the state will take place on June 10. While the Congress can easily win two and the BJP one, the contest is for the fourth seat for which the BJP is backing Independent candidate Subhash Chandra.

Chandra claimed that eight Congress MLAs may vote for him and asked former deputy chief minister Sachin Pilot to also cross sides.

This would be an opportunity for Pilot to avenge his "humiliation", the media baron told reporters.

Pilot, however, advised Chandra to withdraw from the contest to avoid being humiliated.

"An advice to the Independent candidate of Rajasthan -- Better to be out of the contest before voting on 10th. It is better to be humble than to be humiliated," he tweeted.

"Unfortunately politics is not like making a TV series where you decide who will do what," he said, targeting the media baron.

Meanwhile, an official statement claimed the two legislators of the Bharatiya Tribal Party (BTP) have decided to support the ruling Congress after meeting Gehlot.

However, the legislators said they want to stay in a circuit house or any other place than the hotel where other Congress legislators are camping, according to the statement.

Six candidates are in the fray for the Rajya Sabha poll to four seats from Karnataka, leading to a heated contest for the fourth seat.

The Congress on Tuesday appealed to the 'secular MLAs' to cast their 'conscience votes' for their candidate Mansoor Ali Khan.

Congress Karnataka unit chief D K Shivakumar said he and former Chief Minister Siddaramaiah were making this appeal to everyone in the Karnataka Assembly.

Offering to trade second preference votes with the Congress, JD(S) leader H D Kumaraswamy said his main agenda is to defeat the BJP.

The former chief minister also claimed that even if JD(S) manages to get the 22 second preference votes from the Congress, it will be in a leading position.

Despite not having the adequate number of votes to win the fourth seat from the state Assembly, all the three political parties in the state -- BJP, Congress and JD(S) -- have fielded candidates for the seat, forcing an election.

"My main agenda is that BJP should face a defeat, I'm ready for it. After Congress General Secretary in-charge of Karnataka Randeep Singh Surjewala called me, I calculated and have personally informed him that we (JDS) are ready to transfer our 32 second preference votes to Congress, but want their (Congress) 24 second preference votes in return," Kumaraswamy said.

Speaking to reporters, he said he doesn't have a better offer than this to make and asked Congress to prove its "secular commitment".

The six candidates in the fray for Rajya Sabha polls from the state are - Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, actor-politician Jaggesh and outgoing MLC Lehar Singh Siroya from the BJP, former Union Minister Jairam Ramesh and state general secretary Mansoor Ali Khan from the Congress, and former MP D Kupendra Reddy from the JD(S).

Despite the JD(S) seeking support to ensure Reddy's election to the Upper House of the parliament, the Congress did not withdraw its second candidate Khan from the fray and has issued a whip to all its MLAs asking them to vote for the party's candidates.

There are talks within political circles that the BJP may be at an advantage if preference votes were to be counted and Congress and JD(S) don't come to any understanding.