In yet another jolt to the Congress party ahead of its Working Committee meeting and a mega rally in Ahmedabad on Tuesday, one more party MLA, Vallabh Dharaviya has submitted resignation to Speaker Rajendra Trivedi.
Dharaviya's resignation came about an hour after Purshottam Sabariya, a Congress MLA from Dhangadhra, joined the BJP. Dharaviya is also likely to join the BJP.
Dharaviya is the third MLA to join the BJP in four days. Jawahar Chavda from Manavadar, who had resigned, was given a cabinet berth in a day's time. Dharaviya was originally with the BJP and had joined the Congress ahead of 2017 assembly elections.
Last year, the BJP had given cabinet berth to Kunvarji Bavalia from Jasdan, who had resigned as Congress MLA. He won the seat in the by-poll.
The resignation of MLAs from Saurashtra region, where the Congress had performed well in 2017 assembly elections, is considered significant.
Opposition leader in the state assembly Paresh Dhanani alleged that the BJP was taking away their MLAs as it is not confident of winning Lok Sabha elections.
