Gandhinagar: Just two days after the resignation of former Gujarat Congress President and Porbandar MLA Arjun Modhwadia,  another Congress MLA resigned today. Arvind Ladani, MLA from Manavadar seat today handed over his resignation to the State Assembly Speaker Shankarbhai Chaudhary at the latter’s residence here. Ladani also resigned from primary membership of the Congress party. He is all set to join Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). The latest resignation of a Congress leader happened a day before Congress leader Rahul Gandhi’s ‘Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra”s arrival in Gujarat.

Earlier in Rajula, Ladani held a meeting with Gujarat BJP Chief CR Patil. Ladani has not answered calls from media persons or Congress leaders for the past three days. With Ladani’s resignation from the State Assembly, the strength of the main opposition Congress party has reduced to 13 from 17 in 2022. Congress is now left with only one seat in the State assembly from the Saurashtra & Kutch regions which is Veraval-Somnath. The party has no representation in the Lok Sabha from the entire Gujarat.

Arvind Ladani contested the state assembly election for the first time in the 2019 by-election, challenging the then BJP Minister Jawahar Chavda. He lost by a margin of 9,000 votes. He was again given a ticket by the Congress party in the 2022 assembly elections, in which he managed to defeat BJP’s Jawahar Chavda.

Ladani’s political journey began in 1989 when he was first elected as the Sarpanch of Kodvav village. He was also elected as a member of the district panchayat twice. He also served as the president of the Manavadar Taluka Kharid-Vechan Sangh twice. He is President of Kodvav Cooperative Society and Education Society since 1995.

Born on January 7, 1962, in Kodvav village of Manavadar taluka, Ladani pursued education till the second year of B.Com from Rajkot. Ladani, a bachelor, attributes his decision to stay single to his commitment to social service.

Ladani is believed to be a supporter of Arjun Modhwadia.

Ahead of the Lok Sabha polls, several MLAs and opposition party leaders have resigned and joined the ruling BJP. The MLAs of Congress/AAP who resigned are Chirag Patel (Former Congress MLA, Khambhat), C.J. Chavda (Former Congress MLA, Vijapur), Arjun Modhwadia (Former Congress MLA, Porbandar), Bhupat Bhayani (Former AAP MLA, Visavadar).

Alongside the Lok Sabha elections, by-polls for Khambhat, Vijapur, Porbandar, Visavdar, Vaghodiya, and Manavdar assembly seats will also be held.

Other leaders who resigned from the Congress party in the last two days include Ambarish Der (Former MLA and Congress Working President), Mulu Kandoriya(contested against Poonam Madam from Jamnagar seat in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections), Dharmesh Patel (was a candidate against Patil in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections in Navsari). DeshGujarat