Gujarat: 5 MLAs quit, Congress scrambling for numbers in Rajya Sabha polls

Of the five, Patel, Jadeja and Kakadiya had been with the BJP earlier. All the five have been suspended from the Congress, state chief Amit Chavda said.

The latest developments have left the party, which was hoping to grab two of the four Rajya Sabha seats, needing votes from NCP’s Kandhal Jadeja, Independent Jignesh Mevani and Bharatiya Tribal Party (BTP) MLAs Chhotu Vasava and son Mahesh Vasava to reach that count.

Mevani and the NCP have confirmed their support but the Vasavas are yet to make their position clear. Stung by the resignations, the Congress has moved all its MLAs to Rajasthan. Party spokesperson Manish Doshi said all 68 MLAs, including south Gujarat MLA Jitu Chaudhary, who was said to be missing, have been lodged at Shiv Vilas Hotel in Jaipur.

Party sources said given the current strength in the House — BJP 103, Congress 68, BTP 2, NCP 1, Ind 1 — the ruling party can easily win two seats, and the Opposition one. But the fight gets tough for the Congress’s second candidate who will compete with Narhari Amin, BJP’s third candidate and a former Congress leader.

In 2017, the Rajya Sabha polls had led to a similar cliffhanger, when the BJP fielded its then national president Amit Shah, Union minister Smriti Irani and Congress turncoat Balwantsinh Rajput who was locked in a fierce contest with Congress veteran Ahmed Patel.

Patel won by a whisker, with the help of non-Congress votes, after six Congress MLAs quit. This time, incidentally, the reduced strength of House is likely to bring down the number of votes needed to win to 36 from 37 per candidate.

Speaking to The Indian Express on the resignations, Speaker Trivedi said: “I had ensured that there are video recordings of the five MLAs approaching me to submit their resignations on different occasions so that there is no allegation against me.”

Paresh Dhanani, Leader of Opposition, told The Indian Express that all is not lost for the Congress. “It can also happen that a few disgruntled BJP MLAs choose not to vote,” he said.

That assertion gained weight when BJP MLA Ketan Inamdar was seen visiting Dhanani’s office in the Assembly. Inamdar, who had recently quit over issues linked to his constituency before taking back his resignation, described his visit as a “social” and “friendly” meeting.

On the ground, meanwhile, the rumblings of dissent are growing louder with the Vadodara unit expressing its displeasure against the leaders of the state executive.

Sources said the party’s MLA from Karjan, Akshay Patel, reached Jaipur via Delhi where he and Jambusar MLA Sanjay Solanki met Ahmed Patel to complain against the state leadership.

Revealing the extent of the rift within, Patel claimed that “about five six leaders of the BJP met me in the last few days offering me the opportunity to join their party”. “I told them that I am open to the idea but they must book their own former Karjan MLA Satish Patel for cheating and misappropriation of funds of sugar farmers of Rs 24 crore. I have no assurance from them and I am still with the Congress,” Patel claimed.

Dilip Bhatt, former district president of the Congress, said: “The show in Gujarat is run by two people, who are totally disconnected from grassroots workers. Chavda has no time or intention to meet anyone or look into why the party is disintegrating. The MLAs have resigned not just because they are opportunistic but also due to the fear that no one wants to be on a boat that is being sunk.”