Ahead of the crucial Rajya Sabha polls in Gujarat on June 19, Congress MLA Brijesh Merja on Friday resigned from the assembly membership.
The Assembly secretariat confirmed that Speaker Rajendra Trivedi has accepted the resignation of Merja, who was elected from the Morbi seat.
"Another Congress MLA has tendered his resignation from the post and I have accepted it. He is Brijesh Merja, Morbi MLA," said Rajendra.
He has become the third Congress legislator to quit in the last three days.
Before quitting as a legislator, Merja also resigned from the primary membership of the Congress.
Merja is the eight Congress MLA to quit the assembly membership since March.
Two other Congress MLAs, Akshay Patel and Jitu Chaudhary, resigned on Wednesday evening, Trivedi had said on Thursday from Kaprada constituencies.
Gujatat Assembly Speaker Rajendra Trivedi said, "Both the Congress MLAs came to me last evening with resignation letters. I verified them, identified their faces by asking them to remove their masks and then accepted their resignations. They are no longer members of the House."
The Congress has fielded two candidates -- Shakti Singh Gohil and Bharat Singh Solanki while Gohil will be getting the first preference vote and is sure to be elected for the Rajya Sabha but the fate of Bharat Singh Solanki whose father Madhav Singh Solanki had been the Chief Minister of the state hangs in limbo. Now only the management skills can get him elected.
Arjun Modwadia, senior leader of the Congress, speaking to IANS, said, "BJP is using money and intimidation to lure away MLAs. Akshay Patel has been lured away as he has business interest in mining."
The Congress had earlier nominated Rajeev Shukla but was opposed by the state unit and party fielded Bharat Singh Solanki, a former Union Minister.
The Congress needs 71 votes to win both the seats but now the number has reduced after fresh resignations while the BJP needs 106 votes for its three candidates and has the strength of 103 in the Assembly. So the BJP has fished into the Congress to gain the third seat, a party leader said.
Congress sources say it will now depend on Solanki's management skill, a veteran who can turn the tide in his favour. Last time Ahmed Patel won with his management skills despite Congress MLAs resigning and had said he defeated Amit Shah in numbers game.
The BJP has fielded Rameela Ben Bara, Abhay Bhardwaj and Narhari Amin for three of the Rajya Sabha seats.
Earlier, in March five Congress MLAs had resigned just days after polls were announced and before the lockdown was enforced. These include Somabhai Patel, Praveen Maru, J.V. Kakadia, Mangal Gavit and Pradyuman Singh Jadeja.
The exodus started after the ruling BJP fielded the fifth candidate, Narhari Amin, who is a former Congressman and also a businessman.
