Shifting MLAs means Congress doesn't trust its leaders: Shakersinh's MLA son Mahendrasinh Vaghela

Congress MLA and son of former Gujarat chief minister Mahendrasinh Vaghela on Saturday condemned the grand old party's decision to shift the party MLAs to another city and said the party decision indicates that it doesn't trust its own leaders.

"The Congress is on the backfoot in the state. What was the need to take all the MLAs to Bengaluru? This act simply means that the party's high command doesn't trust their own MLAs," Mahendrasinh said.

Talking to ANI, Mahendrasinh neither disclosed if he will also resign from the party like his father, nor did he reveal the number of the MLAs, who are expected to resign from the party in the coming days.

"For the past one year he (Shankersinh Vaghela) was suggesting some reforms to the Congress high command, which was apparently necessary to implement for the party to come back to power in the state. His suggestions were not taken seriously. As a result, he got upset and resigned from the party," he added.

Mahendrasinh also asserted that there is a lack of leadership in the Congress and things don't work as per the requirement.

"The Antony Committee had said that the party should declare their candidate a year before the date of elections and there were other things also suggested by the committee. It was decided that the party will work according to that committee. But nothing happened," he said.

In the backdrop of Gujarat Congress MLAs quitting and joining the BJP, as many as 44 of the grand old party MLAs left for Bengaluru late last night to ensure they don't succumb to police and political pressure to join the saffron party.

Speaking to the reporters, Congress MLA Shailesh Parmar said, "To ensure that BJP is not successful in its mission, 44 of us Congress MLAs are leaving from Gujarat for Bengaluru. To hide their failure, the saffron party is trying to make sure our MLAs resign by offering money and through police pressure."

Congress leader Abhishek Manu Singhvi had accused the BJP in the state of horse-trading ahead of the Rajya Sabha elections scheduled for August 8.

Following this, Union Minister and BJP leader Ravi Shankar Prasad laughed off the accusation and said the Congress has become a sinking ship and is not able to hold their own house together.

The developments came after at least six Congress MLAs in Gujarat resigned from the party to join the BJP.