Gujarat Cong suspends 5 MLAs who resigned ahead of RS polls

Ahmedabad, Mar 16: The Congress in Gujarat on Monday suspended with immediate effect its five MLAs who resigned from the Assembly ahead of the next week''s Rajya Sabha polls.

The opposition party also suspended from the primary membership the wife of one of these MLAs after she claimed her husband quit due to infighting in the Congress for Rajya Sabha seats.

Gujarat unit president Amit Chavda has suspended all the five MLAs who have resigned ahead of the Rajya Sabha polls, state Congress spokesperson Manish Doshi said.

These MLAs are Pravin Maru from Gadhada, Soma Koli Patel from Limbdi, Pradyumansinh Jadeja from Abdasa, J V Kakadia from Dhari and Mangal Gavit from Dang, he said.

Kalpana, the wife of J V Kakadia, was also suspended from the Congress''s primary membership for "anti-party" activities, Doshi said.

Kalpna Kakadia on Monday alleged her husband resigned due to infighting in the Congress for Rajya Sabha tickets.

These five MLAs, by resigning just ahead of the March 26 Rajya Sabha elections, have caused harm to the party, according to their suspension letter.

Four Rajya Sabha seats are falling vacant in Gujarat.

The BJP has fielded three candidates - Abhay Bhardwaj, Ramila Bara and Narhari Amin - while the Congress has given tickets to senior leaders Shaktisinh Gohil and Bharatsinh Solanki.

In the 182-member Assembly, the BJP has 103 seats, the Congress 73 (before resignations), while two seats belong to the Bharatiya Tribal Party (BTP), one to the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) and one is an Independent. Two seats are vacant due to court matters.

With five resignations, the Congress strength has come down to 68.