Four Gujarat Congress MLAS resign
WITH THIS, THE STRENGTH OF THE CONGRESS PARTY IN THE 182-MEMBER GUJARAT ASSEMBLY HAS COME DOWN TO 69 FROM 73
AHMEDABAD: Four Congress MLAS in Gujarat have tendered their resignation to Assembly Speaker Rajendra Trivedi ahead of the election to the four Rajya Sabha seats in the state to be held on March 26.
The four Congress legislators tendered their resignation on Saturday, which Trivedi accepted.
The speaker told PTI he will announce the names of the MLAS in the Legislative Assembly on Monday.
“Four Congress MLAS tendered their resignation to me on Saturday and I will announce their names in the Assembly tomorrow (Monday),” he said.
With this, the strength of the Congress party in the 182-memislators ber Gujarat Assembly has come down to 69 from 73.
State BJP president Jitu Vaghani said if the four legislators had indeed quit, the saffron party will win three seats in the Rajya Sabha elections. The BJP has fielded Abhay Bhardwaj, Ramila Bara and Narhari Amin for the RS election.
The Gujarat Congress on Sunday shifted around two dozen of its MLAS to Jaipur fearing poaching in the wake of resignations given by four of its legahead of the Rajya Sabha polls to be held on March 26. While some 20 MLAS boarded a flight from Ahmedabad airport, four others did so from Surat airport. The Congress had on Saturday shifted its 14 MLAS to Jaipur fearing horse-trading by the ruling BJP ahead of the Rajya Sabha polls.
The MLAS camping at the Shiv Vilas Hotel situated at Delhi Road include Lakhabhai Bharwad, Poonam Parmar, Geni Ben Thakor, Chandanji Thakor, Rithvik Makwana, Chirag Kalariya, Baldevji Thakor, Nathabhai Patel, Himmatsinh Patel, Indrajeet Thakor, Rajesh Gohil, Ajitsinh Chauhan, Harshad Ribadiya and Pradyuman Singh Jadeja.
Rajasthan chief minister Ashok Gehlot told reporters on Saturday that there was a lot of mental pressure on these MLAS as the BJP is using money and muscle power to intimidate them ahead of the Rajya Sabha polls scheduled for March 26. “It is a reflection of how the BJP functions, forcing MLAS from Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh and now Gujarat to come and camp here,” Gehlot said.
Given its number in the Assembly, the ruling party can only win two seats unless it manages cross-voting from the opposition camp or ensure defection of Congress MLAS to win the third seat.
The Congress has fielded senior leaders Shaktisinh Gohil and Bharatsinh Solanki.
The BJP has 103 MLAS in the House. The BJP has two MLAS, followed by one MLA of the Nationalist Congress Party and an Independent.