Sankarsingh Vaghela was offered Rajya Sabha seat by Ahmed Patel

Sankarsingh Vaghela was offered a Rajya Sabha seat by Congress leader Ahmed Patel before he resigned from the grand old party and joined the BJP.

Shankersinh Vaghela had on July 21 resigned from all posts of the Congress. He had then said that his supporters are free birds and they are free to decide on their future.

In his resignation letter, Vagela wrote, "Your leaders never accepted me wholeheartedly. Many leaders actively worked to ensure that I was defeated.

However, after Vaghela quit the party, which followed cross-voting in BJP-majority Gujarat Assembly during the Presidential elections, panic broke out in the party.

Patel has been fielded by the Congress for the August 8 Rajya Sabha elections.

The Congress currently has 51 MLAs in the 182-member Assembly and it needs 45 votes to win one Rajya Sabha seat. In the last two days, six Congress MLAs have tendered their resignation. Three of them, including Balwantsinh Rajput, joined the BJP.

Of the total 11 Rajya Sabha members from Gujarat, the term of three of them -- Smriti Irani and Dilipbhai Pandya (both BJP) and Ahmed Patel (Congress) -- is ending on August 18.

OneIndia News