(Left-right) BSP MLAs Rajendra Gudha, Joginder Awana, Lakhan Meena, speaker C P Joshi (in the middle), Deepcha... Read More

JAIPUR: In a major political development in Rajasthan , all six BSP MLAs decided to merge with the ruling Congress and gave a letter of intent to speaker C P Joshi late Monday night.

The six MLAs met chief minister Ashok Gehlot before handing over the merger letter to Joshi.

On being asked if he has accepted the merger, Joshi told TOI, “I have received the merger letter and the procedure will follow once the office opens tomorrow (Tuesday) morning.”

This is a repeat of 2009 when all six BSP MLAs in the state joined the Gehlot-led Congress government that was formed after the hung assembly results of 2008.

Boost for Congress before civic polls

Like now, then too the BSP MLAs initially gave outside support to Gehlot government but later merged with the Congress and got ministerial positions.

After the merger, the Congress tally will reach 106 in the 200-member House, which currently has two vacant seats. The Congress has one ally MLA from Rashtriya Lok Dal and claims support of 12 of the 13 independent MLAs.

The current merger is being seen as major victory for the Congress ahead of the municipal polls this year-end and the panchayat polls early next year. Political pundits were speculating that BJP might do a Karnataka in Rajasthan by poaching BSP and independent candidates.

BSP MLA Joginder Singh Awana told TOI, “All the MLAs of our party were sitting together for a long time. For a common interest of bringing development to our respective constituencies, we decided to merge with the Congress. This will benefit the state.” Awana is an MLA from Nadbai constituency.

“Chief minister Ashok Gehlot has already been helping us and had never treated us as MLAs of another party opposing him and his policies in the assembly. We initially had a meeting with Gehlot sab in the evening. Later, we handed over our consent letter for our merger to the speaker of the assembly Dr C P Joshi,” said Sandeep Yadav, an MLA of BSP from Tijara.

Others BSP MLAs include Wajib Ali (Nagar), Deepchand Kheria (Kisangarh Bas), Lakhan Meena (Karauli) and Rajendra Gudha ( Udaipurwati ).



In Video: Rajasthan CM's midnight master stroke: 6 BSP MLAs join the Congress party