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BJP confident of defeating Ahmed Patel in crucial Rajya Sabha polls in Gujarat

The BJP is confident that Ahmed Patel will lose the Rajya Sabha elections from Gujarat on Tuesday.

By Oneindia
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Google Oneindia News

Ahmedabad, August 7: The ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is confident of beating senior Congress leader Ahmed Patel in the crucial Rajya Sabha polls in Gujarat on Tuesday.

"The BJP will win all the three seats and Ahmed Patel will definitely lose," said Gujarat Chief Minister Vijay Rupani during Raksha Bandhan celebrations on Monday.

Vijay Rupani

Patel's opponent is the BJP's candidate Balwantsinh Rajput, who has recently deserted the Congress to join the saffron party. A total of six Gujarat Congress members of legislative assembly (MLAs) left the parent party to join the BJP.

In the 182-member Gujarat Assembly, the strength of the Congress has gone down to 51. The other two high profile BJP candidates contesting the Rajya Sabha polls from the home state of Prime Minister Narendra Modi are BJP president Amit Shah and union minister Smriti Irani.

After the defection of the six MLAs, the Congress recently flew down 44 of its MLAs to a resort in the suburbs of Bengaluru, Karnataka, to avoid further "poaching". However, on Monday, they came back to Gujarat to cast their votes for Tuesday polls.

Currently, the MLAs are staying in a resort in Anand, Gujarat. The Congress MLAs alleged that they were offered Rs 15 crore each to join the BJP. The saffron party, on its part, denied the allegations and criticised the Congress for taking away the MLAs from their home state to Karnataka at a time when floods have created havoc in Gujarat.

"People are dying in floods and the MLAs are enjoying in resort. Their (the Congress) MLAs are not under their control. They don't trust them," Rupani said.

In the last couple of days, the Rajya Sabha polls in Gujarat have become a prestige battle between the BJP and the Congress. According to reports, BJP president Shah is trying his best to defeat Patel in the elections to hurt the Gandhi family.

Patel, the political secretary of Congress president Sonia Gandhi, is considered close to the Gandhi family.

On reaching Gujarat, the MLAs, while addressing the media, said they are all united and "horse-trading" was impossible. The Congress alleged that the ruling BJP was indulging in "vendetta politics" to defeat Patel.

"All of us are united. The BJP can't threaten any MLA. Horse-trading is not possible with those who are with us now," Shaktisinh Gohil, Congress MLA, said. The MLAs are also going to meet Patel at Neejanand resort in Anand on Monday evening, informed Shailesh Parmar, Congress MLA from Gujarat.

OneIndia News

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