After Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat MLAs herded to Rajasthan

JAIPUR: Political tourism is at its peak in Rajasthan. After Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh, it is now the turn of Gujarat Congress MLAs.
The Congress leadership has decided to shift its MLAs from Gujarat to Rajasthan fearing poaching by the BJP before the Rajya Sabha elections, sources said.
A batch of about 14 Congress MLAs from Gujarat arrived in Jaipur by flight on Saturday night. They are being lodged at a hotel on Jaipur-Delhi Road. Some more MLAs are expected to join them soon, sources said.
Congress, which was caught off guard after a section of MLAs loyal to former Congress leader Jyotiraditya Scindia sending their resignations to the speaker putting the Kamal Nath government on the brink of collapse, acted fast on Gujarat. It has decided to shift the MLAs from Gujarat to Jaipur as a precautionary measure as attempts were made by the BJP to lure the MLAs there before the Rajya Sabha polls, sources said.
Meanwhile, about 85 Congress MLAs, including some Independents from Madhya Pradesh who were shifted to Jaipur and have been putting up at two resorts for the last four days, will leave for Bhopal on Sunday morning.
Sources said they will fly out of Jaipur in a special flight in the morning for Bhopal as the Budget session of the Madhya Pradesh Assembly is scheduled to begin Monday. The MLAs have been visiting various tourist places in the state for the last two days. They returned to the resorts on Saturday evening.
Senior AICC general secretaries, Mukul Wasnik and Harish Rawat, were also camping with the MLAs in Jaipur.
Rajasthan played host to the Congress MLAs from Maharashtra during the drama played out during government formation there after then BJP ally Shiv Sena refused to play ball with BJP.
Chief minister Ashok Gehlot on Saturday visited the resorts and interacted with the MLAs and senior leaders. In a brief interaction with the media, Gehlot lashed out at the BJP saying political parties shifting their MLAs to other states reflects the prevailing situation in the country.
Alleging an atmosphere of terror, Gehlot said, “If anyone expresses disagreement with the government, he is treated as traitor. Where is democracy left in this country and as I said earlier, horsetrading is being done shamelessly.” He alleged that the Congress MLAs in Bengaluru were held ‘captive’ and even close relatives were not allowed to meet them.