Shankersinh Vaghela Quits : What Does it Mean for Gujarat Elections?

77-year-old ShankerSinh Vaghela, the strongest contender of coveted Chief Minister post has put everyone on thinking mode about Congress’s next move as he quit the party. With his 20 years of service as a Congressman, the veteran has once again created a vacuum in the grand old party.

The ‘former RSS leader’ had first joined Congress in 1996 following a tiff with BJP leaders. Vaghela had started his political career back in 1977 as member of Lok Sabha from Janata Party, later known as Bharatiya Janata Party. He was an active member of Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) before joining Janata Party.
In 2002, Congress president Sonia Gandhi appointed Vaghela as the Congress chief of the Gujarat unit which served as a befitting answer to BJP’s Narendra Modi. He was already known as ‘Modi foe’ due to the turn of events in 1996. This political move was perfect keeping in mind the RSS roots of Vaghela and an experience of three decades. Moreover, the communal polarisation after Godhra riots was another issue that needed to be tackled sensitively and Vaghela suited the purpose.
He is fondly called Bapu by his followers and this assembly election was his last chance to win back the Chief Minister post with PM Modi out of the race. This sudden decision of Rajput veteran is also a major throwback for Congress which had the opportunity to win over BJP after 15 years. As the state prepares itself for polls, Congress’s hunt for CM face starts again.

Interestingly, even after being in the party for 20 years, Vaghela was still considered as an outsider and often referred as an RSS man by many of Congress state leaders.
Vaghela had recently met Amit Shah in Delhi, which sets another round of speculations that he might be joining BJP again. Moreover, his activities on social media have put everyone to doubt his future course of actions. He has unfollowed almost 30 Congress leaders and also deleted his anti-BJP tweets.
In one of his interview, he said that he left BJP because of disagreements and internal conspiracies and same is being repeated in Congress. He mentioned how his name is being removed from party campaign posters and public events. His differences with party Chief Bharatsinh Solanki was another catalyst in his decision to resign as Leader of Opposition.
Vaghela’s move will prove to be a deterrent for Congress as he was the one who had surpassed his limits. He was well connected with both grassroot workers and party members; and also national leaders like RJD chief Lalu Yadav, NCP leader Sharad Pawar and LJP head Ramvilas Paswan.
Vaghela is also capable of mobilising the OBC and Kshatriya communities, who constitute nearly 40% of Gujarat’s population. Losing out on such numbers just ahead of elections can prove to be fatal for the party. BJP has been long eyeing this votebank, especially after being deserted by Patidars and Patels, who form another major chunk of the states’ population.
It would be fascinating to watch the series of events that would take place subsequently.
