Forty-four Gujarat Congress MLAs, who were in a hideaway in Bengaluru, returned home on Monday to cast their votes in the upcoming Rajya Sabha polls.
All the MLAs who were staying at Bengaluru's Eagleton Resort arrived at the Kempegowda International Airport in the wee hours of Monday.
"All our MLAs have returned and they have been taken to a resort in Anand," Congress party chief whip and senior leader Sailesh Parmar told reporters in Anand.
The MLAs were whisked away from the airport here and have been kept together at one Nijanand resort on the outskirts of Anand town.
"All our MLAs have decided not to go to their home even on this day of 'Rakshabandhan' and be loyal soldiers of the Congress party. They will stay together and they will go to vote for the Rajya Sabha polls tomorrow (to Gandhinagar) from Anand," Parmar said.
"Ahmed Patel and state Congress chief Bharatsinh Solanki will come to Anand to meet them," he said adding they have not taken police security at the resort.
The Gujarat Congress had sent 44 of its MLAs here on July 29 to fend off "poaching" attempts by the BJP, ahead of the August 8 Rajya Sabha polls, in which Ahmed Patel, the political secretary to Congress chief Sonia Gandhi, is contesting. "We have the numbers. The BJP don't have the numbers. We will see to it that Patel wins the poll," said Congress spokesperson Shaktisinh Gohil.
Congress MP D.K. Suresh on Sunday said the Gujarat Congress is united and all the 44 MLAs are ready to vote for Ahmed Patel in the election scheduled for August 8. "All of them are happy... they might leave tomorrow or day after tomorrow," said Suresh, adding, "Gujarat Congress is united, MLAs want to vote Ahmed Patel and will get back seat of Congress."
Congress MLA Shailesh Parmar had said, "To ensure that BJP is not successful in its mission, 44 of us Congress MLAs are leaving from Gujarat for Bengaluru. To hide their failure, the saffron party is trying to make sure our MLAs resign by offering money and through police pressure."
Earlier, Gohil had alleged that it was the BJP which was spreading "canards" that the Congress MLAs would first be flown to the national capital to meet Gandhi.
He also alleged that the saffron party was spreading "false reports" that the MLAs would use the 'NOTA' option in the polls to defeat Patel.
The Congress has objected to the 'NOTA' option in the Rajya Sabha polls, which is being seen as a prestige battle for the party in Gujarat.
Gohil asserted that all the Congress MLAs were "united" and that they would vote for Patel in the August 8 election.
Six of the 57 Congress MLAs in Gujarat have quit the party recently, with three of them joining the BJP on July 28.
