The Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) received a huge setback in Rajasthan as all its MLAs in Rajasthan Assembly joined the Congress party on Monday night.
Mayawati’s party’s all six members of the Rajasthan Assembly wrote to the Speaker C P Joshi and requested him to merge the legislative party with the Congress.
MLAs Rajendra Singh Gudha, Jogendra Singh Awana, Wajib Ali, Lakhan Singh Meena, Sandeep Yadav and Deepchand said that they are joining the Congress.
“All the six BSP MLAs were in constant touch with Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot and today they have come into the fold of the Congress,” a Congress leader said.
Nadbai MLA Jogendra Singh Awana said that it was difficult for them to support Congress from outside.
“We have given our resignations letter and also met CP Joshi ji and Ashok ji today. There were several challenges in front of us. On one hand, we were supporting Congress for the development of the state and on the other, we were fighting against them in elections. We all gave a thought to it. We took a decision in favour of the state,” he said.
The Congress won the Rajasthan Assembly elections last year with 100 seats and its ally Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) has one MLA. The Congress has also the outside support of 12 out of total 13 independent MLAs as well as the BSP’s six MLAs. The 12 independent MLAs had joined Congress in March.