Lok Sabha election 2019: Fresh blow to Congress as senior leaders in Maharashtra, West Bengal, Gujarat defect to BJP

After at least five Gujarat Congress MLAs defected to the Bharatiya Janata Party over the past month, the grand old party was dealt a fresh blow on Tuesday when senior Maharashtra Congress leader Radhakrishna Vikhe Patil’s son Sujay Vikhe Patil also defected to the BJP.  On Friday, Sujay met Maharashtra minister and BJP leader Girish Mahajan, sparking rumours of him joining the saffron party. He once said he need not be in the Congress just because of his family connection. Senior Congress leader Deepa Dasmunsi is also likely to join the BJP in West Bengal, CNN-News18 reported. According to reports, Dasmunsi was upset over the party conceding the Raiganj Lok Sabha seat to the Left front. The constituency was held by her late husband Priyaranjan Dasmunsi, and Dasmunsi was hopeful of being given the party’s ticket. In 2014, she lost the seat by a narrow margin. Dasmunsi is in talks with West Bengal BJP leader Mukul Roy, CNN-News18 reported. Tuesday’s defection and the accompanying rumours struck a fresh blow to the Congress ahead of the crucial Lok Sabha polls, amid reports that the grand old party is lagging behind in preparations while struggling to finalise alliances with regional parties in various states such as Maharashtra and West Bengal. [caption id=“attachment_5565251” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] File image of Congress president Rahul Gandhi. PTI[/caption] Earlier on Tuesday, Sujay officially joined the BJP. The senior Congress leader’s son was adamant about contesting the general election from the Ahmednagar seat, a crucial western Maharashtra bastion of the NCP, which refused to part with the Lok Sabha constituency during the seat-sharing talks with the Congress. On Monday, Jamnagar  Congress MLA Vallabh Dharaviya  quit the party and joined the BJP. Dharaviya’s was the third resignation of a Congress MLA in Gujarat in a week. “Dharaviya has resigned as Jamnagar (Rural) MLA. He told me he is resigning voluntarily,” Speaker Rajendra Trivedi confirmed. It was a “homecoming” for Dharaviya who was with the BJP earlier before switching over to the Congress ahead of the 2017 Assembly polls and winning on the Opposition party’s ticket. “I am originally a BJP soldier. I had worked under Prime Minister Modi and BJP president Amit Shah earlier. I am leaving Congress because of infighting. I have realised that only BJP can ensure people’s well-being,” he said after joining the party. “After the recent (26 February) air strikes on Pakistan (terror camp), I have realised that Modi must be re-elected as the prime minister. The Congress does not have such leadership,” he further said. Before Dharaviya quit Monday afternoon, his former party colleague Parsotam Sabariya, who had resigned as Dhrangadhra Congress MLA on 8 March, joined the ruling BJP in the presence of senior leaders IK Jadeja and KC Patel. Sabariya said he was not under pressure to join the BJP and claimed he was making the switch to develop his constituency. “I am joining the BJP to develop my constituency. I was not under any pressure and have resigned from the Congress voluntarily. I am not joining BJP to get any post or for other benefits,” he said. On 8 March, Jawahar Chavda, Congress MLA from Manavadar, had also resigned from the Assembly and was immediately inducted into the BJP. He was made a cabinet minister on 9 March and given the Tourism and Fisheries portfolios in the Rupani government. Last month, first-time MLA from Unjha seat in Mehsana, Asha Patel, had resigned from the House and the Congress, and joined the ruling BJP. In July 2018, senior Congress MLA Kunvarji Bavalia had resigned as legislator and was later made a cabinet minister in the state government. He then won the bypoll on a BJP ticket. The BJP now has 100 MLAs in the 182-member House while the Congress has 71 MLAs. A Congress MLA in Arunachal Pradesh also defected to the BJP on Monday. Markio Tado defected to the BJP only a day after the Election Commission announced simultaneous Lok Sabha and Assembly polls in the state on 11 April. Tado represented Tali constituency in Kra Daadi district of the BJP-ruled state. Tado said he submitted his resignation letter to state Congress president Takam Sanjoy and joined the BJP. “The Congress has no vision for the future of the state. So I joined the BJP in the larger interest of the state and the people of my constituency,” he told a press conference. The state has witnessed rapid development under the Pema Khandu government, he claimed. Tado had won from Tali as a Peoples’ Party of Arunachal candidate in the 2009 Assembly elections and as a Congress nominee in the 2014 polls. The MLA asserted that he would not contest the election this time and extend his unconditional support to an aspiring BJP candidate. With Tado resigning, the Congress in the state has left with four legislators in the house of 60.   With inputs from agencies