Four Gujarat Congress MLAs resign ahead of Rajya Sabha polls

Ahead of the upcoming elections to four Rajya Sabha seats in Gujarat, four Congress MLAs on Sunday have submitted their resignations to Assembly Speaker Rajendra Trivedi.

Trivedi told news agency PTI that he accepted their resignations. He said he will announce the names of the legislators in the Legislative Assembly on Monday. "Four Congress MLAs tendered their resignation to me on Saturday, and I will announce their names in the Assembly tomorrow," he said.

With the resignations, the Congress strength in the 182-member Assembly has come down to 69.

On Saturday, the Congress had shifted 14 of its MLAs to Jaipur fearing they would be poached by the ruling BJP ahead of the Rajya Sabha polls on March 26.

The BJP has fielded Abhay Bhardwaj, Ramila Bara and Narhari Amin for the election. The saffron party can easily win two of the four seats with its numbers in the House, but to win any extra seats would mean it needs members of the Opposition camp to cross vote or defect.

The Congress has fielded senior leaders Shaktisinh Gohil and Bharatsinh Solanki.

(Inputs and image from theindianexpress.com)