With at least six Congress MLAs from Gujarat resigning from the party over the last 48 hours, senior Congress leader Abhishek Manu Singhvi on Friday alleged that crores of rupees have been spent in horse- trading in Gujarat by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
He also hinted that the Congress may invoke the provisions of the anti-defection law to take some of the errant MLAs to task: if successful, these MLAs would be barred from contesting any elections for six years.
Constitutional sin
Pointing out that “the anti-defection law is supreme”, he said the Supreme Court has on more than one occasion “called defections a constitutional sin”.
Mr. Singhvi also alleged that one Congress MLA from Gujarat, Punabhai Gavit, said he was offered ₹10 crore by the BJP to cross over.
Mr. Singhvi’s remarks come at a time when the Congress is reeling from a spate of defections from its unit in Gujarat, where Rajya Sabha polls are due next month, and State elections later this year.
Congress MLAs Ramsinh Parmar, Mansingh Chouhan and Chhanabhai Chaudhary resigned on Friday, a day after three MLAs — Balwantsinh Rajput (Sidhpur), Tejashree Patel (Viramgam) and Prahlad Patel (Vijapur) — quit the party to join the BJP.
Vaghela’s exit
The resignations were triggered off by Congress veteran Shankersinh Vaghela’s exit.
The resignations of these MLAs also comes in the wake of cross-voting by at least 11 Congress MLAs in the recent presidential election.
The party has not identified the MLAs who cross-voted.
