'BJP Pressured EC To Oust Natarajan From RS Contest'

New Delhi : 'We can never trust the BJP when it comes to elections.' As Meenakshi Natarajan's Rajya Sabha nomination was rejected due to her failure to disclose a private complaint against her in her affidavit. Congress MLA Ramkishore Dogne alleges the BJP became an 'autocratic party' and pressured the Election Commission to oust Natarajan from the contest.

Dogne states that a simple court notice, not a criminal complaint, was issued against Natarajan, where she was a respondent, not an accused. Dogne refutes claims of internal Congress sabotage, asserting that all MLAs united to support Natarajan.
 
The rejection of Congress leader Meenakshi Natarajan's Rajya Sabha nomination has triggered a major political controversy.

The Congress alleges that procedural and political manoeuvring deprived its candidate of a fair contest, while questions are also being raised about the party's failure to scrutinise the nomination papers adequately.

Natarajan needed 58 first preference votes to make it to the Rajya Sabha, which seemed a cinch as the Congress has 65 MLAs in the Madhya Pradesh assembly.

At the last moment her nomination was rejected by the returning officer over a complaint by the Bharatiya Janata Party that she failed to mention a private complaint against her in her affidavit.

Congress MLAs were huddled together at Bhopal airport on Tuesday to fly to Bengaluru, away from the BJP's reach, but the flight could not take off.

The episode has sparked a fresh political battle between the Congress and BJP, with accusations of interference, electoral manipulation, and administrative hurdles surrounding the movement of Congress MLAs ahead of the election.

To understand what exactly happened and who bears responsibility for this dramatic turn of events, Indian White Paper spoke to Madhya Pradesh Congress MLA Ramkishore Dogne.

'There is no criminal complaint against Natarajan. She was a respondent in the case and not an accused'
Madhya Pradesh Congress MLAs were about to leave for Bengaluru on Tuesday but your flight did not take off. What happened?

We were made to wait for four hours at the airport and another 45 minutes in the flight before takeoff. And just before our flight could take off we came to know that our leader Meenakshi Natarajan's nomination form was rejected, so there was no point in taking the flight.

Whose fault is it due to which Meenakshi Natarajan's nomination form was rejected? The Congress has so many eminent lawyers and yet they forgot to mention this case against Ms. Natarajan.

At this point of time it is difficult to say who's at fault.

There was no FIR (First Information Report) against Meenakshi Natarajan. A simple notice was issued by the court on a private complaint.

There is no criminal complaint against her. Here she was a respondent in the case and not an accused. (The reason behind the rejection, according to the returning officer, was that she failed to disclose details about a case against her in Telangana. 

The case originated from a police complaint filed in 2022, when a Congress woman worker went to court alleging intimidation, harassment and inaction by several Congress leaders in the state. The petition names seven Congress leaders as respondents, including Meenakshi Natarajan.)

'BJP thought they will buy out Congress MLAs' ;  Is that the reason the BJP put up a third candidate, Mahesh Kevat, although they didn't have the numbers for his win?

The BJP thought they will buy out Congress MLAs to ensure their third candidate will win. When they realised that they won't be able to do that, they made this move.

What about the responsibility of the Congress party? Did it not realise that a court notice should have been mentioned in Ms. Natarajan's affidavit for the Rajya Sabha election?

I have personally contested three elections and I am a two-time MLA. There is never a mention of any notice in your affidavit that you file for contesting elections.

This was only a notice and that too a third party notice. Meenakshi Natarajan was not even a direct accused in the party. The main accused is someone else.

I can understand if she was the main accused and her affidavit got rejected. But here she was not even an accused and still her nomination form got rejected.

Do you feel the BJP did not want Meenakshi Natarajan to get elected to the Rajya Sabha?

The BJP has become an autocratic party. The BJP put pressure on the Election Commission and got its way to oust Meenakshi Natarajan from contesting the Rajya Sabha elections.

'The authorities did not give us permission to enter Bhopal airport'
What about your Bengaluru plan? When did Congress MLAs decide to move out from Bhopal?

It was decided one day earlier. We were to go a day earlier, but the flight could not be arranged. The next day we were to leave at 12 noon from Bhopal to Bengaluru. The move was done to ensure there was no cross voting from our ranks.

Is it true that your flight could not take off from Bhopal?

Yes, that is true. They said our flight had no permission to fly in India. Interestingly, this flight had got permission to fly from Bengaluru to Bhopal, but the same flight was denied permission by the government to fly out of Bhopal.

We waited for five hours just to get permission for this flight with Congress MLAs to take off.

How long did you all remain in the plane?

We sat in the plane for 45 minutes but the plane could not take off. Before that we were made to sit outside Bhopal airport.

Protocol states that MLAs are above the chief secretary, but here we were sitting outside on the footpath at Bhopal airport. The authorities did not give us permission to enter the airport though our chartered plane was waiting. It was with great difficulty that we got permission to enter the airport later.

'Kamal Nath wanted us to vote for Meenakshi Natarajan'

Were you caught offguard by these developments?

The BJP planned well to sabotage Meenakshi Natarajan's win. We can never trust the BJP when it comes to elections. We need to be attentive and careful in the future.

There is a theory floating around in Bhopal political circles that Congressmen sabotaged Meenakshi Natarajan's nomination.

If that was the case, then Congress MLAs would not have gone to Bhopal airport to save her Rajya Sabha seat. The meetings were going on non-stop for three days and all Congress MLAs stood together to vote for her.

BJP MLA Kailash Vijayvargiya claims that Congress leaders alerted him about this case against Meenakshi Natarajan after which he approached the Election Commission to reject her nomination form.

Let him name the Congress leader who tipped him off about this case.

Vijayvargiya is one of the claimants for the chief minister's post in Madhya Pradesh. Let him speak the truth and name the Congress leader who alerted him about this case. He should not practise the politics of lies.

What about reports that Kamal Nath was upset over Meenakshi Natarajan's nomination?

No, this is not true. Kamal Nath himself got all the MLAs together and wanted us to vote for Meenakshi Natarajan.