Shankersinh Vaghela now breaks free from Congress in Gujarat

After months of speculations, Congress leader Shankersinh Vaghela chose the day he turned 77 to announce his retirement, both from the party and active politics.

At a convention in Gandhinagar on Friday, Vaghela also resigned as Leader of Opposition in Gujarat Assembly and will give up his membership to the House after the Rajya Sabha polls in the state on August 8.

Bapu (as he is popularly called) took to the stage, a 'pagdi' was placed on his head and a sword handed to him. A crowd of over 15,000 people and a song from 'Bahubali' playing in the background, completed the picture.

However, the absence of prominent faces took the steam out of the event. Only two Congress MLAs, one of them Vaghela's son, Mahendrasinh, and Raghavji Patel attended the event.

Vaghela's exit ahead of the Assembly elections, likely to be held in November or December, may be a concern for the party as the leader enjoys considerable support in north Gujarat.

The dramatic announcement by Vaghela, a former RSS volunteer, came a day after the disunity in the state Congress came out in the open after at least 11 of its 57 MLAs voted for opposition presidential nominee Ram Nath Kovind.

"The Congress never paid heed to my representations. I now consider the people of Gujarat as my high command and I declare to them that I'm freeing myself from party politics and will not join any other party either," Vaghela said.

Vaghela had quit the BJP over 20 years ago and formed Rashtriya Janata Party (RJP), which later merged with the Congress in 1996. "I apologise to my supporters," he said. "By making myself free of all ties with the Congress, I free my supporters from any bonding. I'm not making any recommendations for any of them. They are free to decide their future course of action on their own."

To his detractors in the party, who accuse him of being power-hungry, Vaghela said, "I was never in the race for power. I choose to relinquish all the posts, positions and responsibilities. I wish to utilise my life for constructive activities. I'm leaving party politics, but not public life. I bow before my real high command — you, the people — and assure you that I will be ready to help you any time."

The senior leader also vented his anger at the Congress leadership for ignoring his suggestions. He accused many Congress leaders in Gujarat as having ties with the BJP.

"Throughout my public life, I never communicated with any of the chief ministers in Gujarat. I have always met PM Modi and Amit Shah publicly and not behind closed doors. There are several Congress leaders from Gujarat, who secretly meet people at 7RCR, and they have taken 'supari' from the BJP to finish the Congress in Gujarat."

Quake Maha politics soon

After demolishing Congress in Gujarat, BJP is eyeing prominent Opposition leaders from Maharashtra. Heavyweights such as Congress's Narayan Rane, Radhakrishna Vikhe Patil, Nationalist Congress Party's Jayant Patil, Rajesh Tope, Jaidutt Kshirsagar are on BJP's radar and political equations will be redrawn soon after Vice President's election is over.

At least 12 Opposition legislators crossvoted during the just-concluded Presidential polls and speculations were rife on how BJP could, on its own, run the government in the state, without any support from Shiv Sena, which has been a trouble maker ally so far.

Apart from the leaders mentioned earlier, the BJP has also said to be in talks with Congress legislators Kalidas Kolambkar, Gopal Agrawal, Sunil Kedar, Harshwardhan Sapkal and NCP's Sanjeev Naik, Manohar Naik and Pradeep Naik.

A senior BJP minister told DNA, "For Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, the sole priority is to further strengthen the party organisation while ensuring transparent administration. He enjoys good rapport with leaders across parties and some of the Congress and NCP leaders are in touch with him. Fadnavis will take a call after an approval from national president Amit Shah for induction of opposition party leaders ahead of the next elections."