The 44 Congress MLAs will stay at Nijanand Resort, located on the outskirts of Anand, till Tuesday morning, Congress spokesperson Manish Doshi said. As the Congress MLAs refused to take police protection inside the resort, the Anand police has deployed security personnel outside the premises. Patel will take on Bharatiya Janata Party candidates including party chief Amit Shah, Union minister Smriti Irani and former Congress party chief whip Balwantsinh Rajput who recently joined the BJP. A pitched battle is on between the two parties to win the Rajya Sabha elections after senior Gujarat Congress leader Shankarsinh Vaghela quit the party. Subsequently, the rattled Congress tucked away 44 of its MLAs to a Bangalore resort to insulate them from alleged ”poaching” attempts by the BJP.

Source: The Telegraph August 07, 2017 10:30 UTC