Gujarat polls: Congress screening candidates to avoid post-poll poaching
The fear of its MLAs being poached is now haunting the Congress in Gujarat as well.
New Delhi [India], November 3 (ANI): To avoid poaching of its MLAs after elections, the Congress is taking steps prior to the Gujarat polls this time as the party has seen poaching of its MLAs in states including Karnataka, Goa and Madhya Pradesh where BJP formed governments and weakened the Congress further.
In Gujarat, the scenario is that as soon as the AAP entered the fray, it made this an issue, saying that voting for the Congress would only help the BJP because if its MLAs win, the BJP will poach them anyway.
In such a situation, to deal with this allegation of AAP, before giving tickets, the Congress is asking the aspiring candidates for financial and criminal records in their bio-data, as well as their business and their family members.
Speaking to ANI, AICC in-charge of Gujarat PCC said, “we know this is the agenda against us, This time we are taking special care in giving tickets. Haven’t you seen what BJP has done in all the states?”
The Congress wants the MLAs should not come under pressure of ED, IT department and CBI. Even before this, leaders like Hardik Patel, and Alpesh Thakur and many MLAs left the party. In 2017 the party had won 77 seats, which came down to 62 by 2022, while the number of BJP MLAs has reached 111 even though it had won only 99 seats.
But the fear of its MLAs being poached is now haunting the Congress in Gujarat as well.
In the last few days, when some Congress leaders joined the BJP, the party raised the slogan “Three brothers of BJP – ED, IT and CBI”, to counter the situation. After Rahul Gandhi’s Bharat Jodo Yatra and Mallikarjun Kharge becoming the new party president, the Congress wants to turn a new leaf. (ANI)
