AHMEDABAD: More than three Congress MLAs and other leaders are likely to resign from the Congress and join the BJP during Rahul Gandhi’s Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra in Gujarat, sources aware of the matter said.
Some Congress leaders claim that the BJP is orchestrating resignations to divert attention from the Nyay Yatra that will enter Gujarat on March 7 and cover 400 kilometres in seven districts in four days before crossing over to Maharashtra.
On Monday, while Gujarat Congress president Shaktisinh Gohil was giving information in Ahmedabad about Rahul Gandhi’s Nay Yatra, former state party chief Arjun Modhwadia resigned as a Congress MLA. Modhwadia along with the party’s former working president Ambarish Der joined the BJP on Tuesday, a day after resigning from the Congress citing dissatisfaction with the Congress’s decision to boycott the Lord Ram temple consecration ceremony held in Ayodhya in January.
“More than three Congress MLAs, mostly from North Gujarat, and a former MLA and a senior powerful OBC leader may join the BJP,” a Congress leader said, wishing not to be named. “These leaders are set to join the BJP during former Congress president Rahul Gandhi’ s Nyay Yatra in Gujarat. This is an attempt by the BJP to divert attention from the Yatra,” he said.
“I have also learned that some former MLAs, MPs, city and district presidents, and senior figures from Saurashtra and South Gujarat are in contact with the BJP and will soon join,” the Congress leader claimed. There was immediate reaction from the BJP to the Congress leader’s claim. In the last three months, more than 10 Gujarat Congress leaders have joined the BJP. Congress’s strength in the 182-member assembly has come down to 14.
‘To divert attention’
Some Congress leaders claim that the BJP is orchestrating resignations to divert attention from Congress leader Rahul Gnadhi’s Nyay Yatra that will enter Gujarat on March 7 and cover 400 kilometres in seven districts in four days before crossing over to Maharashtra.