New Delhi: All the 43 Congress MLAs of Gujarat who voted for the political secretary to Congress, Ahmed Patel, visited Delhi on Monday. They met Congress president Sonia Gandhi and vice-president Rahul Gandhi. Thanking the legislators from Gujarat for supporting the party candidate in the Rajya Sabha, the party leadership asked them to remain united in their fight for truth and ideology in Mahatma Gandhi’s home state. The Congress is presently chalking out plans for contesting the Assembly polls in Gujarat, slated to be held in December, this year.
In the meet with legislators, the Congress leadership also asked them for inputs for the Assembly elections. General secretary incharge of Gujarat Ashok Gehlot and political secretary to Congress president Ahmed Patel were among those present. Later, the legislators also attended a dinner hosted by Mr Patel. Incidentally, Mr Patels’s birthday was also on Monday. After the meeting, Mr Gandhi tweeted “Had a good meeting with Congress MLAs and leaders from Gujarat today.”
Speaking to reporters, Congress MLA and key strategist of the recently concluded Rajya Sabha election Shaktisinh Gohil said, “While congratulating the party MLAs for remaining united and standing the test of time, Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi told all MLAs to continue with their fight for truth and ideology. They told the party legislators that the Congress was not contesting for taking power but for restoring the values in Mahatma Gandhi’s Gujarat.”
While in Ahmedabad former Congress MLA and BJP candidate Balwantsinh Rajput moved a petition in the Gujarat High Court against the Election Commission of India’s order of invalidating votes of two MLAs. Mr. Rajput further added that two votes of Congress MLAs should also be invalidated as they also showed their ballots. The Gujarat High Court today issued notices to the Election Commission and Congress leader Ahmed Patel. The notices are returnable by September 21st.
