Tough fight for Ahmed Patel as three Cong MLAs join BJP
More trouble in offing as Cong legislators, including Vaghela’s son, likely to quit
AHMEDABAD: The Congress suffered a jolt in Gujarat on Thursday when three of its 57 legislators resigned from the party and the assembly ahead of the August 8 Rajya Sabha elections, in what is going to be a close call for Ahmed Patel.
Balwantsinh Rajput, Prahlad Patel and Tejshree Patel joined the BJP soon after party chief Amit Shah arrived in Gandhinagar.
Rajput, an aide and brotherin-law of former chief minister Shankersinh Vaghela, will be the BJP’s third candidate from Gujarat for the Rajya Sabha election, the party announced on Thursday. Shah and Union textile minister Smiriti Irani are the other two candidates.
The resignations came a day after Congress’ lone candidate and party chief Sonia Gandhi’s political secretary Ahmed Patel filed his nomination for the fifth consecutive term in the Rajya Sabha. Vaghela had disassociated himself from the Congress on July 21, a day after presiden- tial poll results revealed that 11 Congress legislators cross-voted in favour of NDA’s pick Ram Nath Kovind. Sources said more Congress legislators, including Vaghela’s son Mahendrasinh and another aide Raghavji Patel, are likely to resign before the Rajya Sabha polls.
Ahmed Patel now needs at least 46 votes of the remaining 54 Congress legislators.
With the reduced strength of 179 members (from 182) in the state assembly, Shah and Irani will need 92 votes. With 121 legislators, the BJP will have 29 spare votes. “The cross-voting in presidential polls revealed that Congress was losing its 11 MLAs. And three have already resigned,” said a BJP leader.
The Congress has stepped up efforts to prevent further exodus, with party leaders expressing confidence that some BJP legislators might vote for Ahmed Patel in the absence of a whip for the Rajya Sabha polls.
The support of two NCP legislators, BJP rebel Nalin Kotadia and JD(U) MLA Chottu Vasava, is crucial for both the sides.