Gandhinagar: Two more Congress MLAs quit the party today and submitted their resignations to Speaker Ramanlal Vora. Mr Chhanabhai Chaudhary, a legislator from the tribal Vansda constituency in South Gujarat, and Mr Mansinh Chauhan from central Gujarat’s Balasinor, put in their papers. Like the three MLAs, who resigned yesterday to join the BJP, Mr Chaudhary and Mr Chauhan too are believed to be close to rebel leader and former Chief Minister Shankersinh Vaghela, who quit as Leader of Opposition on his birthday on July 21, alleging that there was an intra-party conspiracy to oust him from the Congress.
Meanwhile, national BJP president Amit Shah, Union Minister Smriti Irani and Mr Balwantsinh Rajput, who quit the Congress on Thursday and joined the BJP, filed nominations for the August 8 Rajya Sabha elections. For Congress party chief Sonia Gandhi’s political secretary's post, Mr Ahmed Patel had filed papers seeking a fifth term in the Upper House. (UNI)