All Six BSP MLAs join Congress in Rajasthan

In a huge setback to Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), in Rajasthan, all six MLAs joined the state's ruling Congress late on Monday night. With their support, the tally of Congress has reached 106 in the 200-member assembly.

The six BSP MLAs met Rajasthan Assembly Speaker CP Joshi on Monday and handed over a letter informing him of their intent to join Congress. The six MLAs who have joined the Congress are Rajendra Guda, Jogendra Singh Awana, Wajib Ali, Lakhan Singh Meena, Sandeep Yadav, and Deepchand Kheria.

The move is significant just two months ahead of local body elections due in November. According to the sources, all six MLAs have joined Congress party on behest of chief minister Ashok Gehlot. "The serving CM Ashok Gehlot Ji is the best when it comes to fight against communal forces and to work for the development of the state and stability of the government", MLA Rajendra Guda told DH after he handed over the letter to the Rajasthan Speaker. A few days ago, Guda had publicly made allegations that his party demanded money to nominate candidates for elections.

The same views were echoed by Jogendra Singh Awana, another BSP MLA who handed over the letter to the Speaker, "We took this decision in favor of the state. We believe that after entering into Congress we can do more development work in the state".

Mayawati terms it as "betrayal"

The move has irked the BSP supremo Mayawati. She hit out at Congress on her twitter handle. "The Congress has always been against BR Ambedkar and his ideology. That is why Ambedkar had to resign as the country's first law minister. Congress never honored him with a Bharatratna, which is sad and shameful," tweeted Mayawati.

Terming it as a "betrayal", Mayawati said it comes at a time when the BSP was extending unconditional outside support to the Congress. "The Congress party in Rajasthan, by creating a split among the BSP MLAs, has once again proved that it is untrustworthy and a cheat. The Congress, instead of fighting its bitter rivals, always harms the parties that support it," she poured out her anger in the tweets on Tuesday.

However, with all six joining the Congress, they have bypassed the anti-defection law.

Congress' tally gets stronger in Rajasthan

In 200 seat Rajasthan assembly, at present, it has 198 sitting MLAs. Two seats got vacant after 2 MLAs got elected as Member Parliament. The tally goes like this Congress (100) + alliance (1 RLD) have 101 seats. The opposition BJP has 73 seats. BSP had 6 seats who have now supported Congress. Whereas the other parties have (RLTP 2 seats), (BTP, 2 seats), (CPM, 2 seats) and there are 13 Independent MLAs, twelve of which support the ruling Congress.