After three of its legislators tendered their resignations within 24 hours, the Congress in Gujarat has been driven under the shield of resort politics yet again. Latest inputs indicate that the Congress has shifted all 65 of its remaining MLAs to a resort.
In light of the novel coronavirus outbreak and the need for social distancing, these legislators have been divided into three teams led by three major leaders of the Gujarat Congress. Each of these teams comprises 20-25 legislators.
One of the teams has been shifted to Wind Winds Resort near Ambaji in Gujarat’s Banaskantha district on the Gujarat-Rajasthan border.
At the same time, Congress MLAs from Saurashtra are being housed at former MLA Indranil Rajyaguru’s Neel’s City Resort near Rajkot.
Legislators from Central and Southern Gujarat have been transported to the Aries Riverside Farm House near Vadodara.
Congress leader Arjun Modhwadia has alleged that MLAs who had never seen Rs 50 lakh in their lives are being offered Rs 20 crore by the BJP. Even at this time, the BJP is busy buying Congress legislators instead of testing people for the novel coronavirus, Arjun Modhwadia added.
It is important to note that 8 Congress MLAs in Gujarat have tendered their resignations after filling the forms for the Rajya Sabha elections. Even more interesting is the fact that 5 legislators had submitted their resignations at the time of filling the forms. This had prompted the Congress to move its MLAs to a resort in Jaipur. However, the novel coronavirus outbreak and the lockdown had put the brakes on political activity. With Unlock-1 in motion, 3 more Congress MLAs have now resigned.
The Congress MLAs have accused their own party of ignoring their opinions but the question that arises is why Congress legislators tender resignations ahead of Rajya Sabha elections.