While Gujarat Congress MLAs are tucked away in Bengaluru, BJP surely grabs the chance to its advantage and win the trust of the people in flood affected Gujarat.
Four of the nine Assembly seats in Banaskantha district are represented by Congress MLAs, all of whom are currently in Bengaluru. Dhanera and Kankrej, the worst-affected by the flood, are the constituencies represented by Congress MLAs Joitabhai Patel and Dharshibhai Khanpura, respectively.
Congress flew 49 of its MLAs to party ruled Bengaluru ahead of the Gujarat Assembly elections due on Aug 8 fearing that BJP might lure away its members. Since Shanjersinh Vaghela quit the party, Congress has born the resignation of 6 more MLAs. Congress accused BJP of luring away its MLAs by bribing 15 crores to each MLA and tempting offers of a ticket to fight the polls.
Following the resignation of 6 MLAs, Congress is taking precautions to keep its remaining MLAs intact, while BJP is taking full advantage of this opportunity to pull down the image of Congress. BJP aggressively made its presence felt in the flood-affected areas of Banaskantha, sending out truckloads of relief material from the party’s state headquarters at Koba in Gandhinagar on Monday. Indirectly targeting the opposition BJP is trying to say that while the Congress MLAs should be present in their respective constituencies, they are merely enjoying in a resort in Bengaluru.
Gujarat Chief Minister Vijay Rupani along with the assembly poll nominee Smriti Irani on Monday visited the flood affected areas of Banaskantha and Patan and Dhanera and Tharad talukas of Banaskantha respectively. Shankersinh Vaghela who quit Congress on July 21 also toured the area of Banaskantha, Patan and Morbi districts. In his statement to a media person, he said that instead of helping the people in need here in Gujarat the COngress MLAs are enjoying in Bengaluru, this shows the commitment of the party.
BJP workers from Gandhinagar district and Ahmedabad city and district units have prepared the relief material kits containing 2,750 ration kits, 4,000 pairs of slippers, 1,000 utensil kits, 4,000 saris and 3,000 kg wheat flour. Also included were four truckloads of school books and study material and 20 truckloads of grass and fodder for the flood affected regions.