AHMEDABAD: Gujarat’s leader of Opposition Shankersinh Vaghela, who is allegedly upset with the Congress leadership for not projecting him as the chief ministerial candidate ahead of the Assembly polls, categorically denied on Friday that he was contemplating joining the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
On Friday, Mr. Vaghela met Congress general secretary and Gujarat in-charge Ashok Gehlot and subsequently told mediapersons in Mr. Gehlot’s presence that “reports of him joining BJP are baseless”, and accused BJP leaders of spreading rumours ahead of the polls.
Earlier, Mr. Vaghela had skipped a series of party meetings and unfollowed Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi and others on Twitter. He had also deleted all political tweets from his timeline, and then left for a week-long trip abroad. This had triggered speculations that he may join the BJP.
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“Who told you that I am having any problem with Congress? Who told you that I am leaving the party and joining BJP? These are all rumours spread by BJP ahead of polls. Neither have I contacted any BJP leader, nor have any of them contacted me till date,” the 77-year-old former Gujarat Chief Minister said. he added that he and other Congress leaders were “committed to defeat the ruling party at the hustings”.
Speculations were also rife about his MLA son, Mahendrasinh Vaghela, joining the BJP as the ruling party had promised him a Cabinet berth. Mr. Vaghela ruled this out too. “Though BJP leaders are trying to lure Mahendrasinh to join the party, he will not quit the Congress,” he said.
Last month, 36 of the 57 Congress MLAs had demanded that Vaghela should be made named the party’s chief ministerial candidate if the Congress wanted to win the polls. Posters to this effect were also put up in various cities in the State. However, Mr. Gehlot has ruled out the party naming any leader as the chief ministerial candidate.
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Meanwhile, on Thursday, Mr. Gehlot separately met local leaders representing the Patidar, tribal and Dalit communities, and sought their views on the campaign strategy. The Opposition party is apparently trying to bring the Patidar community on board to take on the BJP, which has won the Assembly poll consecutively since 1995.
Patidars, considered loyal voters of the BJP, have held violent agitations demanding reservation in government jobs and educational institutions under the OBC quota.