2 Gujarat Congress MLAs Resign Ahead Of Rajya Sabha Polls

Out of the four Rajya Sabha seats from the state scheduled to go for polls on 19th June, the BJP holds 3 seats whereas Congress has 1.

Ahmedabad| In a massive blow to the opposition Congress Party in Gujarat ahead of the Rajya Sabha polls scheduled on 19th June for four seats, two party MLAs have resigned as members of the Legislative Assembly.

The Congress, however, has blamed the ruling BJP for breaking the party ahead of the Rajya Sabha polls. Although, the ruling BJP has dismissed the claims stating that the MLAs were leaving the Congress as they were “unhappy” with the party leadership.

Congress MLAs Akshay Patel and Jitu Chaudhary met him on Wednesday evening and handed over their resignations, the Gujarat assembly speaker Rajendra Trivedi informed.

Akshay Patel was elected from Karjan seat of Vadodara while Chaudhary won from Kaprada seat of Valsad.

Seven Congress MLAs including Patel and Chaudhary have resigned since March. Out of 182-member state Assembly seats, the ruling BJP has 103 MLAs, and the opposition Congress now has 66 legislators.

Out of the four Rajya Sabha seats from the state scheduled to go for polls on 19th June, the BJP holds 3 seats whereas Congress has 1.

In a quest to make it difficult for the opposition Congress to win 2 seats, the BJP has fielded three candidates while the Congress has fielded two candidates for the Rajya Sabha polls.

Paresh Dhanani, the Leader of Opposition, has accused the BJP of breaking the Congress to win the Rajya Sabha polls.

“The BJP has opened its shop to buy Congress MLAs from the money amassed through corrupt means. The BJP is using the state machinery and money power to win elections,” he claimed.

However, BJP’s Narhari Amin, dismissing the allegations, said, “I believe that some more Congress MLAs would also resign in near future. They are leaving Congress because they are unhappy with the party leadership.”