With Lok Sabha elections round the corner, it seems that the Congress is facing an uphill task in Gujarat in face of an exodus of its MLAs in the state. A senior Congress leader, Jawahar Chavda resigned as an MLA from the Gujarat legislative assembly on Friday and joined the BJP. Hours later, the Congress suffered another setback as another party MLA in the state of Gujarat, Parshottam Sabariya resigned from the assembly and switched over to the BJP. Four Congress MLAs have resigned from the Assembly since July 2018 as a result of which the party strength has gone down to 72 in the 182 member assembly.
Before tendering the resignation, Chavda said, “After a lot of churning, I have come to the conclusion that it is necessary to be in a ruling party to serve people better. And therefore, I have changed my home.” As per PTI, the Gujarat Assembly speaker said, “Chavda has resigned as MLA from Manavadar seat. He came to my residence and handed over his resignation letter. I have accepted his resignation. He has not cited any particular reason. Chavda ceases to be an MLA from today.”
Chavda’s resignation comes at an inappropriate time for the grand old party days ahead of the scheduled meeting of the Congress Working Committee (CWC) in the state. Chavda’s resignation must have taken the Congress by surprise given that he is no ordinary leader. He is a four time MLA from Manavadar seat in Junagadh district and is considered to be an influential OBC leader from the Ahir community. He won from the said seat in 1990, 2007, 2012 and 2017. Therefore, he is a tall and influential leader who won from the assembly seat for three consecutive times. This therefore, meant a big loss for the Congress and a massive gain for the BJP in the run up to the Lok Sabha polls as far as the state of Gujarat is concerned.
Last month, the first time MLA from Unjha seat of Mehsana, Asha Patel had resigned from the Assembly and the Congress. She went on to join the BJP. In her resignation letter addressed to party president, Rahul Gandhi, she had written that she resigned from the party because of “prevalent infighting” and “because the leadership has been ignoring” her. She also stated, “There is a lack of connection between the MLAs and the party organisation… I felt that there is no opportunity for my future growth in the party and therefore, I resigned.” Her letter in a way explains why the grand old party is facing such tough time in the state. It is clear that due to weak and incapable leadership, the party is unable to take its MLAs along smoothly. The Congress, therefore, faces an uphill task of keeping its house in order in Gujarat even as the Lok Sabha polls approach closer. The BJP has a clear advantage over a divided Congress in the state of Gujarat.