New Delhi: Congress MLA Mohammed Moquim created a flutter in political circles on Monday by announcing that he has voted in favour of NDA presidential candidate Droupadi Murmu as she happened to be a “daughter of Odisha”.
Immediately after exercising his franchise in the Assembly, the legislator from Cuttack-Barabati assembly segment said he went by his “conscience call”. “I am an Odia; I voted in favour of Droupadi Murmu as she is a daughter of Odisha. I went by my conscience. MLAs cannot be prevented from listening to their conscience,” Moquim stated.
The Congress lawmaker also said that he had received phone calls from several eminent persons, including those staying abroad, requesting him to support the “daughter of the soil”. “People of Odisha will support my move. Murmu's victory will make me proud,” Moquim explained. Asked if he was under pressure from the ruling BJD, which has also pledged its support to Murmu, Moquim said, “It is my personal decision... there is no other reason.”
Meanwhile, Congress Legislature Party leader Narasingha Mishra said all MLAs of the grand old party, including Moquim, had agreed to vote for joint opposition nominee Yashwant Sinha. Condemning Moquim's “change of stance”, Congress MLAs S S Saluja and Taraprasad Bahinipati said the Cuttack-Barabati MLA must have been unhappy in the party.
“Everyone should have toed the party line. Many meetings were held and all MLAs of the party had given assurance that they would vote for Yashwant Sinha. We will bring the matter to the notice of party high command for necessary action,” Saluja maintained.
OPCC president Sarat Pattnayak, too, said that he would apprise the party high command of this latest development.
“I cannot say for sure what exactly prompted him to go against the party line,” he added.
Voted according to my conscience, says Cong MLA Kuldeep Bishnoi
Haryana Congress MLA Kuldeep Bishnoi, who cross-voted in last month's Rajya Sabha polls, on Monday said he has voted according to his conscience in the presidential election too.
Indicating that he had supported NDA candidate Droupadi Murmu rather than the opposition's Yashwant Sinha, Bishnoi said in Delhi, "Like in Rajya Sabha, I have cast my vote in this election too as per my conscience".
When reporters asked about his future course of action, he said, "I will reveal that soon."
Before the Rajya Sabha polls too, Bishnoi, the younger son of former Haryana chief minister Bhajan Lal, had said he would go by his conscience.
Voting for the presidential election began at 10 am and was scheduled to end at 5 pm.
The system of secret ballot is followed in the presidential election, and parties cannot issue whips to their MPs and MLAs.
While other Haryana MLAs were exercising their franchise at the Vidhan Sabha complex in Chandigarh, Bishnoi had sought permission to cast his vote at Parliament House.
The 53-year-old legislator from Adampur had met Shah and Nadda in New Delhi recently and later heaped praises on them.
Bishnoi, a four-time MLA and a two-time MP, has been sulking ever since the Congress ignored him for the post of its Haryana unit chief during a revamp earlier this year.
The party appointed Udai Bhan, a loyalist of former chief minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda, as its Haryana president.
Bishnoi was expelled from all party positions on June 11 for not following the party line in the Rajya Sabha elections.
"The Congress also has rules for some leaders and exceptions for others. Rules are applied selectively. Indiscipline has been repeatedly ignored in the past. In my case, I listened to my soul and acted on my morals," he had tweeted in response.
Last month, Bishnoi said he was consulting his supporters to decide his next course of action.
The Congress, which is the main opposition party in Haryana, was assured of one Rajya Sabha seat by virtue of the number of MLAs it has in the 90-member assembly.
However, Congress candidate Ajay Maken failed to secure the berth after Bishnoi cross-voted, while another MLA's vote was declared invalid. BJP's Krishan Lal Panwar and the saffron party-backed Independent candidate Kartikeya Sharma were elected to the two Rajya Sabha seats from Haryana.
—PTI
