AHMEDABAD: A new trend of resignations in Gujarat politics has started with the recent resignations of an MLA from the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and one from the Congress. Meanwhile, Kirit Patel, Congress’ Patan MLA, told the media on Wednesday that “three to four resignations from Congress are coming soon.”
“I believe three to four MLAs (from Congress) will leave soon. If the Congress party wants to win in Gujarat, it must convene an immediate organizational meeting. Steps must be taken to prevent MLAs from resigning. BJP would have tackled the issue by holding an emergency organizational meeting. If a person’s voice is not heard, he will step out,” said Patel.
Kirit Patel is not the only Congress representative to suggest that additional MLAs may resign; earlier this week, its Khambhat MLA Chirag Patel, who resigned from the party on Tuesday, told the media that several Congress MLAs will leave the party in the coming days.
In Gujarat, the pattern of Congress MLAs leaving the party is not new. According to statistics, over 100 Gujarat Congress leaders have joined the BJP thus far. From 2002 to 2017, as many as 80 state Congress leaders defected to the BJP, according to the state Congress’s political history.
From 2017 to 2022, the BJP provided tickets to 12 former MLAs who left the Congress and fielded them in the last Assembly elections, but only nine of them were elected. With Congress lawmakers defecting to the BJP, the BJP gained 156 seats in the 2022 elections, while the Congress won only 17 seats out of 182
Assembly seats. With the resignation of Khambhat MLA Chirag Patel, the Congress tally has shrunk from 17 to 16.
‘Pattern not new’
In Gujarat, the pattern of Congress MLAs leaving the party is not new. According to statistics, over 100 Gujarat Congress leaders have joined the BJP so far. From 2002 to 2017, as many as 80 state Congress leaders defected to the BJP, as per the state Congress’s political history.