The Gujarat Congress on Sunday
shifted around two dozen of its MLAs to Jaipur fearing poaching in the wake of resignations given by four of its legislators ahead of Rajya Sabha polls to be held on March 26.
While some 20 MLAs boarded a flight from Ahmedabad airport, four others did so from Surat airport.
On Saturday, a dozen MLAs were shifted to a resort in Jaipur by the Congress.
These moves come as Assembly Speaker Rajendra Trivedi confirmed on Sunday that four Congress MLAs had tendered their resignations on Saturday, all of which had been accepted.
Trivedi said he would disclose the names of the four MLAs during the Assembly session on Monday.
Three BJP candidates and two from Congress have filed nominations for the RS polls.
The Congress' move is to thwart any attempt at cross- voting.
It has fielded senior state leader Shaktisinh Gohil and Bharatsinh Solanki while the BJP has fielded Abhay Bhardwaj, Ramila Bara and Narhari Amin.
As per seat strength in the Assembly, the BJP can win two seats, while it will require cross-voting from Congress MLAs to win the third seat, as this would require 111 votes.
In the 182-seat Assembly, BJP has 103 seats, Congress 73, while two seats are with Bharatiya Tribal party and the Nationalist Congress Party has one.
The Congress will need 74 votes to win two seats, and has managed to get the support of the lone Independent MLA in the House, Jignesh Mevani.
Withfour resignations, the Congress' strength comes down to 69.
Meanwhile, senior Congress leaders like Gujarat in-charge Rajeev Satav, Solanki and Gohil met to discuss the latest development.
Disclaimer: No Business Standard Journalist was involved in creation of this content
