Trouble mounts for Congress in Gujarat; three party MLAs close to Shankarsinh Vaghela quit to join BJP

Ahmedabad: Three Congress MLAs in Gujarat, considered close to 'expelled' party leader Shankarsinh Vaghela, resigned from the party on Thursday to join the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which quickly declared one of them its candidate for next month's Rajya Sabha polls against Congress veteran Ahmed Patel.

Congress Chief Whip in the Gujarat Assembly Balwantsinh Rajput and MLAs Tejashree Patel and PI Patel submitted their resignations today. 

After resigning from the grand-old party, the three lawmakers arrived at BJP office in Gandhinagar where they joined the saffron party.

Gujarat Congress MLAs P I Patel,Balwantsinh Rajput and Tejashree Patel who had resigned earlier, arrive at BJP office in Gandhinagar pic.twitter.com/Uqn7ay8U3q — ANI (@ANI_news) July 27, 2017

The resignation of Balwantsinh Rajput, the party's chief whip in the Assembly, Tejashreeben Patel and Prahlad Patel reduced the Congress's tally to 54 in the 182-seat assembly. Rajput, Tejashreeben Patel and Prahlad Patel resigned from the House and also all party posts. They later drove to the BJP office in Gandhinagar and joined the saffron party in the presence of its president Amit Shah.

Shah and Union minister Smriti Irani are the other two BJP candidates for the August 8 Rajya Sabha elections.

Of the total 11 Rajya Sabha members from the state, the term of three -- Irani and BJP's Dilipbhai Pandya and Ahmed is ending on August 18.

The Congress has re-nominated Ahmed Patel, political secretary to party president Sonia Gandhi. The 67-year-old Congressman filed his nomination papers yesterday.

Rajput represented Siddhapur seat in Patan district, while Tejashreeben Patel was elected from Viramgam in Ahmedabad district. Prahlad Patel was elected from Vijapur in Mehasana district. Earlier in the day, they submitted their resignation letters to Assembly Speaker Ramanlal Vora at Gandhinagar.

Within hours of Rajput's induction, the BJP, seeking to queer the pitch for Ahmed Patel, fielded Rajput as its third candidate from Gujarat, hoping to cut into the votes of the Congress nominee.

Rajput's son is the husband of Vaghela's granddaughter.

The latest setback for the Congress comes almost a week after Vaghela left the party and also resigned as the Leader of Opposition. However, he continues to be an MLA.

During his 77th birthday celebrations in Gandhinagar on July 21, Shankarsinh  Vaghela announced that he was expelled from Congress. "Congress expelled me 24 hours back, fearing what I would say at the event," the former Gujarat Chief Minister said.

Interestingly, Vaghela heaped praise on Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, saying 'RSS people are good.

Vaghela is said to be unhappy with the Congress for not having been given a free hand for the party's campaign for the state Assembly Election 2017.

However, Congress rejected Vaghela's expulsion claims and said that "no action was ever taken against him'. 

Party leader RS Surjewala said that his party had refused to grant Vaghela's wish to replace the current Gujarat Congress chief and hence he may have been upset.