Beginning the blame game ahead of Rajya Sabha polls, Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot has alleged that the polls to the upper house of the parliament were deliberately delayed by two months as “they (BJP) had not completed the buying and selling” in Gujarat and Rajasthan.

“Election (Rajya Sabha) is here. It could have been conducted two months back but they had not completed the buying and selling in Gujarat and Rajasthan, so they delayed it. The election is going to be conducted now and the situation is the same,” Gehlot said.

Gehlot met Congress and other independent MLAs on Thursday, who are supporting the Congress in the upcoming Rajya Sabha elections, scheduled to be held on June 19.

“How long will you do politics by indulging in horse-trading? It will not be surprising if Congress gives them a jolt in the time to come. Public can understand everything. Today’s meeting was very fruitful. Everyone is united, we’ll meet again,” said the CM after the meet.

Writing a complaint to the state Anti-Corruption Bureau, Congress leader Mahesh Joshi, the party’s chief whip in the Rajasthan assembly, wrote a letter, mentioning, “I have come to know through reliable sources that attempts are being made to lure our MLAs and independent MLAs who support us, in order to destabilise the Government.”

Following the scare, the Congress party has also shifted its 107 Congress and independent MLAs to a resort on the outskirts of Jaipur.

Rejecting the Congress’s allegations, state BJP chief Satish Poonia told news agency PTI, “It is surprising that those who played the game of horse-trading for 55 years are blaming BJP. They have their internal differences.”

The BJP, which saw a dip in strength from 81 to 75 in Rajya Sabha after biennial polls in March, is likely to add nine seats to its current tally after June 19 polls, taking the total count of NDA’s seats to 100 making it fairly secure in terms of passing legislations as it will need just 22 more votes for a simple majority.

Polling for the 18 seats — four each in Andhra Pradesh and Gujarat, three each in Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan, two seats in Jharkhand and one each in Manipur and Meghalaya —– was earlier scheduled for March 26, the day after the initial three-week lockdown began.