Shankarsinh Vaghela. PTI file photo
The Congress in Gujarat on Tuesday claimed that senior political leader and former chief minister Shankarsinh Vaghela was putting pressure on the party to declare him the chief ministerial candidate during the forthcoming Assembly polls in the state.
“This was not acceptable to the party at any cost,” Ashok Gehlot, Congress party in-charge, said about the differences between Vaghela and Congress.
Vaghela had on July 21 announced his decision to quit Congress alleging that the party was involved in severe infighting and not willing to do homework to wrest control of government in the state from BJP after gap of 22 years. Though Vaghela had said that he was not retiring nor joining any political party, there had been murmurs of his likelihood of coming back to Congress fold as he had stopped short of criticising Congress President Sonia Gandhi and her son Rahul Gandhi.However, with Gehlot's statement, that possibility now appears distant.
Gehlot said that Vaghela had acted under duress to cause harm to Congress and under pressure from CBI and the Enforcement Directorate. Gehlot was speaking to media persons after the party held its state executive meeting on Tuesday to discuss its strategy for the upcoming elections after exit of Vaghela. The party is also likely to review its earlier decision of fielding all the sitting 57 legislators as its candidates for assembly polls, leaving some of Vaghela supporters out from the race.
The party is also in huddle to ensure that Ahmed Patel, political secretary to Sonia Gandhi, can easily scrape through in forthcoming Rajya Sabha polls on August 8. Gujarat, that would elect three representatives to the Upper House, would have seen two persons from ruling BJP and one from Congress sail through in normal circumstances. The Congress candidate needs 46 first preference votes, that he should normally get. However, with 11 of the 57 legislators voting for Ramnath Kovind in presidential polls recently and Vaghela quitting party, the scenario has become completely puzzling for Congress.
Though Vaghela has clarified that he was not interested in fighting Rajya Sabha polls, BJP is keeping its strategy close to its chest and sending out mixed signals. A section in BJP is of the opinion that they should either have three candidates of their own. However, if party decides to go ahead with only two official candidates, it should be open to support a third outsider so that Ahmed Patel is unable to make it to Upper House for the fifth time.
Ahmed Patel is expected to file his nomination from Gujarat on Wednesday and has already been officially supported by lone JD(U) and two of the NCP legislators.