Rajya Sabha Elections 2020: Advantage BJP As Two Gujarat Congress MLAs Exit Party

Rajya Sabha Elections 2020 - Congress MLAs Akshay Patel and Jitu Chaudhary submitted their resignations to Gujarat Assembly Speaker Rajendra Trivedi. The Congress party alleged that the BJP was trying to break the opposition ranks just before the elections, a charge dismissed by the latter.

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Ahmedabad (Gujarat):  The Gujarat Congress on Thursday suffered major blow with the exit of two party legislators. The resignations comes two weeks before the crucial Rajya Sabha election. The Rajya Sabha polls for four seats in the western state are slated for June 19. Among the four Rajya Sabha seats, three are ruled by the BJP and one by the Congress. ALSO READ: Will We Have Successful Covid-19 Vaccine Soon? Find Out Which Ones Are the Leading Candidates Congress MLAs Akshay Patel and Jitu Chaudhary submitted their resignations to Gujarat Assembly Speaker Rajendra Trivedi. The Congress party alleged that the BJP was trying to break the opposition ranks just before the elections, a charge dismissed by the latter. BJP said the MLAs were disenchanted with the party leadership and that’s the reason for their desertion "I have accepted their resignations. They now cease to be the legislators," Trivedi told reporters in Gandhinagar on Thursday. Akshay Patel represented Karjan seat of Vadodara while Jitu Chaudhary won from Kaprada seat of Valsad. With their exits, seven Congress legislators have so far resigned from the party. In the 182-member Gujarat Assembly, the ruling BJP has 103 MLAs and the opposition Congress now has 66 legislators.

The Congress has fielded two candidates for the Rajya Sabha polls while the BJP has pitted three. This makes it difficult for the Congress to win a second seat. BJP candidates are Abhay Bhardwaj, Ramilaben Bara and Narhari Amin, and the Congress has announced names of senior leaders Shaktisinh Gohil and Bharatsinh Solanki for the polls. Leader of Opposition Paresh Dhanani accused the BJP of breaking the Congress to win the Rajya Sabha polls. "The BJP has opened its shop to buy Congress MLAs from the money amassed through corrupt means. The BJP is using the state machinery and money power to win elections," he was quoted as saying by news agency PTI. BJP's Narhari Amin brushed aside the allegations and said Congress MLAs are leaving because they are dissatisfies with the party high command.  "I believe that some more Congress MLAs would also resign in near future. They are leaving Congress because they are unhappy with the party leadership," Amin said. The Rajya Sabha elections were earlier scheduled to take place on March 26. However, the polls were then postponed for an indefinite period due to Coronavirus outbreak and imposition of nationwide lockdown.

In March, five Congress legislators had tendered their resignations, days after the Rajya Sabha polls were announced. In the 182-member Assembly, BJP has 103 MLAs, Congress-66, Bharatiya Tribal Party-two and NCP-one. One seat is held by an Independent, Jignesh Mevani, while nine seats are vacant - two due to court cases over poll-related disputes and seven due to resignation of MLAs.