Shankersinh Vaghela quitting shows gulfs within Congress are widening
The resignation of veteran leader Shankersinh Vaghela, affectionately known as Bapu, from Congress’s Gujarat legislature party on his 77th birthday today, July 21, has taken many by surprise. Vaghela, a former chief minister of the state, has ended his two-decade-long association with the party, after he declared that he had received an “expulsion notice” from the Congress high command, though that claim has been negated by Congress spokesperson Randeep Surjewala.
“Congress party sacked me 24 hours ago as they did not know what I was going to say at this rally; when one’s destruction time is soon to arrive, one begins to think negatively),” Vaghela said, reported ANI.
Senior Congress leader Shankersinh Vaghela speaks at his 77th birthday celebration event in Gandhinagar, Gujarat pic.twitter.com/EsiSIQqfn9
— ANI (@ANI_news) July 21, 2017
Congress party ne mujhe 24 ghante pehle nikal diya yeh soch ke ki pata nahi main kya kehta; Vinaash kal vipreet buddhi: Shankersinh Vaghela pic.twitter.com/FNN5sM1RIt
— ANI (@ANI_news) July 21, 2017
Mai apne aap Congress ko apne se mukt karta hoon. I am not going to join any political party: Shankersinh Vaghela pic.twitter.com/zzdOa0mmRF
— ANI (@ANI_news) July 21, 2017
Few days back I met Sonia ji in person, I told her that I will not break her trust by joining BJP: Shankersinh Vaghela pic.twitter.com/ftx4Damunw
— ANI (@ANI_news) July 21, 2017
Vaghela reportedly said that he wouldn’t embarrass Sonia and Rahul Gandhi by joining the BJP, or floating a political party of his own, but his resignation comes as a jolt to the morale of the Gujarat Congress in these trying times.
No action was taken against Shankersingh Vaghela ji nor was he expelled.These are baseless arguments.Its his decision: RS Surjewala,Congress pic.twitter.com/C1PNfXWFA7
— ANI (@ANI_news) July 21, 2017
Vaghela is supposed to resign from his role as the Opposition leader in Gujarat Assembly, as well as quit as MLA after the Rajya Sabha election on August 8. It’s worth remembering that Gujarat Assembly elections are due in only a few months from now.
“I am freeing myself from the bondage of any party, be it Congress, BJP or any party. I am also freeing the Congress from my bondage,” Vaghela said during his speech in Gandhinagar.
#ShankersinhVaghela has consulted #prashantKishore & sought guidance 4 future political course. Bapu-Congress marriage is over. #Gujarat
— Deepal Trivedi (@DeepalMirror) July 21, 2017
However, reports saying that the Congress hasn’t in fact expelled him are also doing the rounds. “No action was taken against Shankersingh Vaghela ji nor was he expelled. These are baseless arguments. It’s his decision,” Congress spokesperson Randeep Surjewala said, reported ANI. “Vaghela ji wanted to replace the current Gujarat Congress chief. A party is always bigger than individuals.”
So what all could have been the reasons behind the veteran quitting Congress at a delicate juncture?
Differences with the Gandhis
Vaghela has in the past openly criticised the leadership of Sonia and Rahul Gandhi, prompting speculations that he might leave the party to join the BJP. In fact, after he declared that he’s been “expelled”, Vaghela praised the RSS and BJP, though he said he wouldn’t join any other party now.
His declaration comes a day after the Congress also sternly asked him not to make “anti-party statements” during his birthday show of strength in Gandhinagar. In a statement issued by the 22-member core committee of the Gujarat Congress, and signed by the GPCC (Gujarat Pradesh Congress Committee) president Bhratsinh Solanki, it was said:
“Shankersinh Vaghela had made certain comments about the party which he should not have at a meeting of his supporters in Gandhinagar on June 25. We extend our greetings to him on his birthday. But, if he does any kind of politics on the pretext of birthday celebration, it is unacceptable. The party will not tolerate it.”
Some astute political observers and other invested in Gujarat politics could see the fractures and simmering tension between Vaghela and the Gandhis, and had said that fallout was imminent.
Congress has been living in a fool's paradise. A frustrated Shankersinh Vaghela leaving Congress will be a body blow to the moribund party.
— Sanjiv Bhatt (IPS) (@sanjivbhatt) July 21, 2017
Coveting Congress’ Gujarat CM face
Moreover, it has been reported by some sections of the media that Vaghela wanted to be the Gujarat state Congress president and to be named the party’s presumptive chief minister for the upcoming state polls, and was not content being the leader of Opposition in the Gujarat Assembly.
Vaghela has of course, very briefly, been the chief minister of Gujarat from October 1996-97 after he had rebelled from the BJP over differences with the party leadership and floated his own party. Vaghela then merged his Rashtriya Janata Party with the Congress in 1998, during a particularly unstable political term in Gujarat, which eventually plateaued after Keshubhai Patel became the CM again in 1998.
Saw people talking about "#ShankerSinhVaghela crisis" & thought I'd woken up in the 1990s.
— Tanvi Madan (@tanvi_madan) July 21, 2017
But Vaghela became a major player in the Gujarat Congress, and was elected to the Lok Sabha in 1999 and 2004 from Kapadvanj. During UPA-1, he became the Union cabinet minister of textiles in May 2004. He lost his 2009 Lok Sabha seat to a BJP candidate, and focussed on the state’s Legislative Assembly then onwards, losing the 2014 Lok Sabha polls again.
It’s evident that Vaghela wanted his pound of flesh from the Congress in the form of being projected as its CM face, which clearly didn’t work out for him.
Question of cross-voting in presidential polls
Vaghela has been accused of facilitating cross-voting in the recently concluded presidential polls, in which the UPA candidate Meira Kumar was defeated by the NDA candidate, Ram Nath Kovind. At least eight of Congress’s 57 Gujarat MLAs defied party diktat to vote for Kovind, counting has shown.
Vaghela has denied doing so and has said: “I voted for UPA nominee Meira Kumar. I don’t know about cross-voting.”
It has been said that Vaghela was warming up to the BJP and its national president Amit Shah, especially to escape corruption probes by the CBI, the allegations of which have stuck to him since the beginning of this year.
Speculations that the Congress high command frustrating Vaghela’s political ambitions were an indication of him siding with Hardik Patel and his Patedar movement for reservation have also done the rounds.
Aligning with Patel and the expulsion is guaranteed to give Vaghela the political martyrdom he desperately wanted, giving him fresh political currency.
Senior journalist Swati Chaturvedi says, “Vaghela, a Rajput, has considerable influence in North Gujarat, where he can safely influence a dozen seats. He laid it on thick at his speech today, thanking Sonia Gandhi and her political secretary Ahmed Patel, who is from Gujarat, while forgetting to mention Rahul Gandhi. Vaghela said he would not join the BJP, but simultaneously made two points: he praised the RSS and his alma mater, the Jan Sangh; he also said he had ensured Prime Minister Narendra Modi's ascension to the BJP Working Committee (suggesting he helped enlarge his career many years ago) and has brought former Gujarat chief minister Anandiben Patel into politics. The attempt to link the BJP was obvious.”
With the Congress facing rebellion in Uttarakhand, Goa, Delhi and now Gujarat, it seems the disconnect between the party high command and the regional leaderships is only widening.
#AccheDin 4 BJP#ShankerSinhVaghela quits Congress in Gujarat,Ambika Soni resigns as Himachal Gen sec.Baba needs to work b4 the next holiday
— Deepal Trivedi (@DeepalMirror) July 21, 2017
After its dismal performances in the Assembly polls earlier this year, except in Punjab, there should have been some introspection within the Congress. But unfortunately, the grand old party of India seems to be disintegrating at a staggering pace.