In a politically significant development in Rajasthan, all six Bahujan Samaj Party MLAs have given a letter to the state Assembly speaker to merge the legislative party with the Congress.
"The BSP MLAs met me and handed their letter about this," Speaker CP Joshi told PTI on Monday, 16 September night.
MLAs Rajendra Singh Gudha, Jogendra Singh Awana, Wajib Ali, Lakhan Singh Meena, Sandeep Yadav and Deepchand said they were merging their legislative party with the Congress.
"All the six BSP MLAs were in constant touch with Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot and today (Monday) they have came into the fold of the Congress," a Congress leader said.
The Rajasthan Assembly has 200 seats. The Congress has 100 MLAs and its ally Rashtriya Lok Dal has one, giving it the majority to run the government.
The Congress also has the outside support of 12 out of total 13 independent MLAs. Two seats are vacant.
In 2009, during Gehlot's earlier tenure, all the six BSP MLAs had defected to Congress. That time, the government was five short of a clear majority.
Mayawati Hits Out at Congress, Terms it ‘Betrayal’
BSP President Mayawati hit out at the Congress after the development, saying that the Congress party has once again proved that it is "unreliable" and "untrustworthy".
The six BSP MLAs in Rajasthan defected to the ruling Congress on Monday night. The development came ahead of civic body polls and bypolls for two assembly seats.
In a tweet, Mayawati said, "The Congress government in Rajasthan has once again broken BSP MLAs and proved that it is an unreliable and untrustworthy party".
Terming it a "betrayal", Mayawati said that this move comes at a time when the BSP was extending unconditional outside support to the Congress.
"Congress, instead of fighting against its bitter opponents and organisations, always works to harm those parties which cooperate with/support them. The Congress is thus an anti-SC/ST OBC party and has never been sincere and honest about the right to reservation of these classes," she said in another tweet.
(At The Quint, we are answerable only to our audience. Play an active role in shaping our journalism by becoming a member. Because the truth is worth it.)