Gujarat: Ahmed Patel to meet 44 Congress MLAs today

Anand (Gujarat) [India], Aug 7 (ANI): Senior Congress leader Ahmed Patel, who is contesting for a Rajya Sabha seat from Gujarat, will meet the 44 party MLAs who returned on Monday morning from Bengaluru. In the wee hours today, all the 44 Gujarat Congress MLAs who were holed in Karnataka's resort as a result of the alleged horse-trading by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) ahead of the Rajya Sabha election, returned back to the state. As soon as the MLAs landed at the state capital they were taken to the Neejanand Resort in Gujarat's Anand district, located 77 km from Ahmedabad, ahead of the Rajya Sabha Election which is to be held tomorrow for three seats. After reaching the resort, senior Ahmed Patel expressed confidence on his party and said all the MLAs of the party stand united. "We are confident of victory, all MLAs are with us," he told ANI. Another leader Shaktisinh Gohil said, "All of us are united, BJP can't threaten any MLA...horse trading not possible with those who are with us now." All the MLAs were whisked away to Bengaluru's Eagleton Resort, after six of the Gujarat Congress MLAs quitted the party and joined the BJP. The BJP has fielded party president Amit Shah, Union Minister Smriti Irani and Balwantsinh Rajput against Congress' Ahmed Patel. (ANI)