Congress party members and workers are celebrating, even as Mr. Patel tweets "Satyameva Jayate" from his account.
"This is not just my victory. It is a defeat of the most blatant use of money power,muscle power and abuse of state machinery"
"I want to thank each & every MLA who voted for me despite unprecedented intimidation & pressure from BJP.They voted for an inclusive India," he tweets.
This is perhaps the first time MLAs are being herded like this for an RS seat, shows Ahmed Patel's importance for Sonia. He is political secretary and a key strategist for the party, who is trying for re-election for a fifth term in the upper house. Congress is spending Crores by flying out and locking elected MLA"s as they are facing serious challenge from the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) this time around In all, there are three Rajya Sabha seats for which elections will be held on 8 August.
BJP, the party has named Balvantsinh Rajput as its third Rajya Sabha candidate from Gujarat after he resigned from the Congress on Thursday. The other two candidates are
party president Amit Shah and textiles minister Smriti Irani.