Congress MLA Bhagabhai Dhanabhai Barad of the Talala constituency has joined the BJP ahead of the crucial Gujarat Assembly Elections.
This comes after Chhota Udaipur MLA Mohan Singh Rathwa also resigned from the Congress on Tuesday. Rathwa, who is the MLA from the Chhota Udaipur (Scheduled Tribes, or ST) constituency, joined BJP in the presence of state general secretaries Bhargav Bhatt and Pradeepsinh Vaghela.
Rathwa's sons Rajendrasinh and Ranjitsinh also joined the BJP at the event.
Rathwa, who had earlier claimed that he would not seek a ticket for the coming Assembly election, said he was "100 per cent" sure that the BJP would field him, PTI reported.
"However, I have not sought a ticket. I am getting old now. My son Rajendrasinh is an engineer. He is BE civil. He was having a feeling that we should join BJP," Rathwa told reporters at the BJP headquarters.
When asked if he left Congress because the party denied a ticket for his son, the senior leader said he had decided to join BJP beforehand.
"The Congress never said that they will not give me a ticket (for my son). I decided before Congress said anything about it. I was impressed by the work done by the BJP government and PM Narendra Modi in our tribal areas. That is the reason why I have decided to join BJP," Rathwa further said.
Gujarat will vote in two phases on December 1 and 5. The counting of votes will be taken up on December 8 along with that of Himachal polls.
Earlier in the day, he sent his resignation letter to Gujarat Congress president Jagdish Thakor and went to the Gujarat BJP office in Ahmedabad, where he was inducted into the saffrom fold.