Congress MLAs meet Gujarat CM Vijay Rupani, DyCM ahead of Rajya Sabha polls

Days ahead of the Rajya Sabha polls in Gujarat, three Congress MLAs on Wednesday evening held meetings with Chief Minister Vijay Rupani and Deputy Chief Minister Nitin Patel at Gandhinagar. This triggered speculations of defection ahead of the polls that are scheduled later this month. As per reports, three Congress legislators who met the CM and his deputy at the state secretariat are Kirit Patel, Lalit Vasoya and Lalit Kagathara.

However, refuting the claims, the three MLAs stated that they went to make a representation about various issues related to coronavirus and lockdown.  When asked about their sudden meeting with the leaders of the ruling BJP, Kirit Patel, who represents Patan Assembly seat, said none of them is joining the ruling party.

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"We went to meet Deputy CM and then Rupani with some demands. During our meet with Nitin Patel, I urged him to expand the bed capacity of Dharpur hospital in Patan so that more number of coronavirus patients from north Gujarat can be treated there," Patel told reporters.

Kagathara and Vasoya said that they demanded the withdrawal of cases lodged against people, especially farmers, during the lockdown. "There is no question of joining the BJP. Vasoya and I met Nitin Patel and the CM, specifically to demand the withdrawal of cases lodged against thousands of people for lockdown violations. Many farmers were also booked in such cases. In the coming days, our party is also planning to take up this cause," they said.

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Rajya Sabha election in Gujarat

The Rajya Sabha election for four seats in Gujarat has been scheduled for June 19. It was supposed to be held on March 26. However, it was eventually postponed for an indefinite period in the wake of coronavirus pandemic and subsequent imposition of nation-wide lockdown. While the Congress has fielded two candidates, BJP has fielded three. In March, five Congress legislators had tendered their resignations days after the elections were announced, reducing Congress's chances of retaining both the seats.

In the 182-member Assembly, BJP has 103 MLAs and the opposition Congress 68. The Bharatiya Tribal Party has two MLAs, and Nationalist Congress Party one. One MLA is Independent while seven seats are vacant; two due to court cases while five due to the resignations.

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COVID-19 tally in Gujarat

Even as the state government has faced the heat allegedly for not revealing the actual Covid-19 tally,  the health department on Wednesday reported that the number of cases in the state has gone up to 18,117 while the death toll rose to 1,122 as 30 more people succumbed to the infection. The state reported recovery of 318 patients on Wednesday, which took the number of discharged persons to 12,212. The state has achieved a recovery rate of 67.4 percent so far, the department said. There are total 4,783 active cases in Gujarat.

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(With PTI inputs)