The August 8 Rajya Sabha elections would decide whether Bharatiya Janata Party will at last be holding the political fulcrum and ruling the nation with no opposition. The packing of Gujarat Congress MLAs to Karnataka for safe custody had invited the wrath of ruling BJP leadership at the Centre with Income Tax (IT) raids at the residence of Karnataka Minister D. K Shivakumar in Bengaluru. In a swoop down that raised a political storm, the IT Department began its searches on various properties linked to Shivakumar, who is hosting 44 Gujarat Congress MLAs at a resort on city outskirts to forestall alleged attempts by the BJP to poach on them ahead of the Rajya Sabha polls. With the game changing over the political turf by the exit of six Congress MLAs ahead of Rajya Sabha polls, the Congress candidate Ahmed Patel would find it difficult to win the elections as more opposition lawmakers are likely to resign. Congress strongman Shankersinh Vaghela has already put in his papers and if the rumour mill is taken to be serious he would join the BJP. The state party leadership, along with Congress high command, is responsible for whatever is happening right now. As the elections near around 20 Congress MLAs would sever ties with the party. Thus, it will be impossible for Ahmed Patel to win the Rajya Sabha polls. Since there are only two main parties in Gujarat, the BJP is the only option for anybody who leaves Congress. A large number of Congress workers are unhappy with the way the party is functioning. During last two days, six Congress MLAs have tendered their resignation. In the 182-member Assembly, the strength of Congress has gone down to 51. Of the total 11 Rajya Sabha members from the state, the term of three of them — Smriti Irani and Dilipbhai Pandya (both BJP) and Ahmed
Patel — is ending on August 18.
