Patna, Aug. 8: Chhotubhai Vasava, the sole Janata Dal United MLA in Gujarat, has done a Nitish Kumar on Nitish Kumar, keeping party leaders guessing on which way he has voted in the Rajya Sabha elections.
JDU chief general secretary K.C. Tyagi told The Telegraph that Vasava had been told by chief minister Nitish Kumar - also the party president - to vote for the BJP nominee Balwantsinh Rajput, pitted against the Congress's Ahmed Patel.
Even before the counting process began at 5pm, Vasava, serving his sixth term from Jhagadiya Assembly constituency of Bharuch, asserted he had voted for Patel.
"The BJP has ruled the state for 22 years but has ignored the tribal areas, which remain undeveloped as the government has done nothing for the poor and tribal population," Vasava told PTI.
The JDU legislator's vote is crucial for Patel since he needs 45 to win. The Congress claims to have 43 of its MLAs voting for Patel while one NCP legislator is understood to have also done so. Vasava's vote holds the key.
Vasava, who has been championing the cause for a separate state of Bhilistan comprising tribal-dominated parts of Gujarat, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra, was quoted as saying that the BJP had done nothing for the welfare of tribals in the 22 years it has been in power in Gandhinagar.
He also denied that he had received any instructions from Nitish.
He said the decision to vote for the Congress nominee was solely his own and not necessarily that of the party which he represents.
"Nitish Kumar did not contact me over voting, and there was nothing like a whip issued by the party in this regard. The decision to vote for Patel was my own," he said. But there was no confirmation if he had shown his voting slip to the authorised Congress agent.
Earlier in the day, Vasava had refused to reveal whom he voted for. "I have cast my vote in national interest," Vasava told reporters in Gandhinagar soon after voting began in the morning. #
Red-faced JDU sources said Vasava had kept the party in the dark and the leaders were caught unaware in the same manner that RJD chief Lalu Prasad was when Nitish walked over to the BJP on July 26.
Nitish's former allies are chuckling. "It was poetic justice," said a senior Bihar Congress leader.