Six rebel Gujarat BJP MLAs submit resignation

AHMEDABAD: Six rebel MLAs of the Gujarat unit of BJP on Saturday resigned from the state Legislative Assembly and primary membership of the party.
   
The MLAs - Dhiru Gajera (Surat), Bechar Bhadani, Bavku Unghad, Balu Tanti, Gopal Dhua and Narendrasinh Jadeja - met Assembly Speaker Mangaldas Patel and submitted their resignation letters.

"We have resigned from the Legislative Assembly and from the primary membership of the BJP," Gajera told.

"We will be joining Congress party in a day or two," the BJP rebel leader added.

Gajera, Bhadani, Unghad and Tanti were recently suspended from the party for dissident activities, while BJP is yet to taken action against the other two.

The six MLAs are likely to contest Gujarat Assembly elections, to be held in two phases on December 11 and 16, on Congress tickets.
   
Earlier, two other rebel BJP MLAs - Siddharth Parmar and Ramila Desai - were suspended for anti-party activities.

The rebel BJP MLAs are unhappy with Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi's autocratic style of functioning, have been voicing their grievances for over a year now.

These MLAs, backed by veteran BJP leader Keshubhai Patel (a staunch Modi detractor), had held several meetings recently against the Chief Minister in Saurashtra and South Gujarat region.