MUMBAI: Two Congress MLAs in Gujarat have resigned ahead of Rajya Sabha polls scheduled on June 19 for four seats from the state.
Congress MLAs Akshay Patel and Jitu Chaudhary met Gujarat Assembly Speaker Rajendra Trivedi handed over their resignations. In the 182-member Assembly, BJP has 103 MLAs and the opposition Congress 68. So far, seven Congress legislators have resigned from Congress party, bringing its tally down to 66 in the Gujarat Assembly.
Trivedi told the reporters on Thursday that Congress MLAs have resigned voluntarily so he has accepted their resignations. Patel represented Karjan seat of Vadodara, while Chaudhary had won from Kaprada seat of Valsad.
Earlier on Wednesday, three Congress MLAs had met Chief Minister Vijay Rupani and Deputy Chief Minister Nitin Patel, triggering speculations of defection. The Speaker had later announced the resignation of two Congress MLAs.
The Rajya Sabha election for four seats in Gujarat was supposed to be held on March 26 but it was postponed due to the lockdown.
While the Congress has fielded two candidates Shaktisinh Gohil and Bharatsinh Solanki, BJP has fielded three, making it difficult for the Congress to win the second seat. Now with the reduced numbers, Congress is likely to see only one candidate making it to the Rajya Sabha while BJP is hopeful of retaining all the three seats it held.
In March, five Congress legislators had tendered their resignations days after the elections were announced. This had further reduced the Congress’s chances of retaining both the seats in Rajya Sabha polls.
Rajeev Satav, Congress general secretary and incharge of Gujarat Congress said the BJP-led government in Gujarat has no money for the improvement of public health but they have enough money to buy the Congress MLAs.