Gujarat: Major setback for Congress as 4 MLAs resign ahead of crucial Rajya Sabha polls

In the midst of the political uncertainty in the state of Madhya Pradesh, sources claimed on Sunday that at least four Congress MLAs resigned in Gujarat, in a major setback to the grand old party ahead of the significant Rajya Sabha polls.

The four Congress MLAs, who have submitted their resignations from the party are – Mangal Gavit, JV Kakadiya, Somabhai Patel and Pradyuman Jadeja.

Being apprehensive of horse trading attempts by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), the Congress had rushed away its 20 MLAs to a secluded location in Rajasthan in 14th March. As maintained by sources, among the 20 Gujarat Congress MLAs, 15 were flown on Saturday while the rest were said to be driving to the resort on Sunday.

According to sources, another group of legislators will be leaving Gujarat on Sunday and only 15-20 legislators will stay back to attend the budget session.

In the 182 member Gujarat Assembly, the BJP has 103 MLAs and the Congress has 73. As to win, a Rajya Sabha candidate will require 37 votes, both the parties have requisite strength to win two seats each. The Congress expects Jignesh Mevani, the Independent MLA, to vote for them.

As three BJP members are retiring from the Rajya Sabha on 19th April, it wanted to keep its tally unharmed and therefore on Friday fielded Narhari Amin as the third candidate. This alerted the Congress and hence the move to shift MLAs out of the state.

The BJP is banking on three votes from other parties, like the Bhartiya Tribal Party (BTP) and one from the Nationalist Congress Party.

To get the indispensable 37 votes for Amin, the BJP will require support of 5 Congress MLAs, which they are confident of getting.

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