Three Gujarat Congress MLAs quit, join BJP ahead of Assembly elections

After two MLAs resigned from Gujarat Congress earlier on Thursday, another legislator has also quit the party. The development comes as the state will go for poll later this year.

Another Gujarat Congress MLA P I Patel resigns from the party. Balwantsinh Rajput and Tejashree Patel had resigned earlier pic.twitter.com/q7GYbF8IlF

— ANI (@ANI) July 27, 2017

According to The Hindu, the two leaders — Balwantsinh Rajput and Tejashree Patel — resigned as legislators in the middle of elections for three Rajya Sabha seats. Rajput and Patel submitted their resignation to Assembly Speaker Ramanlal Vora. ANI reported that all three MLAs joined BJP.

[caption id=“attachment_3863619” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Balwantsinh Rajput and Tejashree Patel submitting their resignation to Assembly Speaker Ramanlal Vora. ANI/Twitter[/caption] The article mentioned that Vaghela’s resignation comes as shock news for the Congress party, a party that is already battling fighting among its senior leaders. In the article, Vidyut Joshi, a political analyst said, “Vaghela’s exit weakens the party in north Gujarat. He alone could have been advantage Congress in at least a dozen seats in north Gujarat, where the BJP is in a sticky wicket because of the Patel agitation.” Vaghela claimed to be a victim of conspiracy, because of which Congress had shown him the door, as reported by Hindustan Times. However, Congress denied any such notions. “No action was taken against Shankersingh Vaghelaji nor was he expelled.These are baseless arguments.Its his decision,” said Congress spokesperson Randeep Singh Surjewala. PTI reported that Vaghela enjoys substantial support in northern Gujarat. However, the leader did not clearly mention whether he would be joining the BJP.