Bhopal (Madhya Pradesh) [India], June 6 (ANI): Madhya Pradesh State revenue Minister and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Karan Singh Verma on Saturday took a jibe at the Congress party, saying that while the party fears cross-voting in the upcoming Rajya Sabha polls, the BJP members are simply 'following party directives', and doing the work assigned to them.

Speaking to ANI, Verma said, 'Congress fears cross-voting. As for us, we do not fear; we follow the party's directives and carry out the work assigned to us.'

BJP's Rajya Sabha candidate Tarun Chugh, on filing his nomination, expressed the sentiment, saying, 'We are soldiers of the party; this is a party directive, and we are fulfilling it as party workers.'

Chugh also expressed gratitude, stating, 'I am deeply grateful to both the national leadership and the leadership in Madhya Pradesh. They have showered us with such abundant blessings.'

Earlier, BJP leader Debashish Samantaray filed his nomination papers for the Rajya Sabha by-election at the Odisha Assembly premises in Bhubaneswar on Friday. He was accompanied by Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi, Odisha BJP President Manmohan Samal, and other senior party leaders, underscoring the BJP's unified support for his candidature.

Reflecting on his departure from the BJD, Samantaray asserted that Odia sentiments were hurt during the 2024 elections, claiming that the emergence of a person from South India as Naveen Babu's successor pushed the party significantly backward and ultimately caused its defeat.

'First of all, I would like to thank Prime Minister Narendra Modi, our National President Nitin Nabin, Odisha State President Manmohan Samal, and the popular Chief Minister of the state, Mohan Majhi, for personally welcoming me in Delhi. There is a leadership crisis in my former party, the BJD. Naveen Babu is the main leader, but above him, there is a retired IAS officer from another state named V.K. Pandian. The reason I left the BJD is that Odia sentiments were hurt during the last election; a person from South India emerged as Naveen Babu's successor, which pushed the party significantly backwards and caused the party's defeat,' said Samantaray.

Earlier, on June 3, the Election Commission issued a notification for biennial elections to 24 Rajya Sabha seats from ten states. This includes four seats each in Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and Gujarat, three seats each in Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh, two seats in Jharkhand, and one seat each in Arunachal Pradesh, Mizoram, Manipur and Meghalaya. Notification was also issued for the Rajya Sabha bypoll for a seat each in Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu and Odisha. (ANI)