Rajkot, June 7: Ahead of Rajya Sabha polls, the Indian National Congress has moved its 65 Gujarat Congress MLAs to resorts in Gujarat and Rajasthan. The Rajya Sabha polls are scheduled on June 19. The development comes three Congress MLAs- Brijesh Merja, Jitu Chaudhary and Akshay Patel - resigned back to back, recently. Till now, eight Congress MLAs have resigned. Rajya Sabha Polls 2020: As 3 MLAs Resign, Cong in Guj Moves Flock to Resorts.

In view of the novel coronavirus crisis, the party has shifted legislators to different locations including Rajkot and Vadodara. The legislators are kept at Wild Winds Resort in Rajasthan, Aries Riverside Farmhouse in Vadodara and Neel City Resort in Rajkot, Times Now reported.

Speaking to news agency ANI, Gujarat Congress MLA Gulab Singh Rajput said, "Strategy for Rajya Sabha election will be discussed here. No MLA is going to break away from the party. Only those who wanted to betray people, left the party. Those who disrespected people's mandate and left the party won't be forgiven by them."

Earlier today, Congress MLAs staged a protest over FIR filed against the owner of Neel's City Resort in Rajkot where party MLAs are lodged. Hardik Patel said, "4 days ago Ahmedabad Mayor participated in mango festival, no FIR was filed. It's being done against us, as we're raising people's voice."

ANI Tweet:

On Saturday, the Congress had accused the Bharatiya Janata Party of horse-trading. Earlier, five Congress legislators — Praveen Maru, Somabhai Patel, Mangal Gavit, JV Kakadia and Pradyuman Singh Jadeja — had resigned in March.

Now, the total strength of Gujarat Assembly stands at 172. The ruling BJP has 103 MLAs, the Bharatiya Tribal Party has two and the Nationalist Congress Party has one. There is also one independent legislator, Jignesh Mevani. The Congress' Shaktisinh Gohil and Bharatsinh Solanki are fielded against BJP's Ramilaben Bara, Narhari Amin and Abhay Bhardwaj for Rajya Sabha polls.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Jun 07, 2020 01:52 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).