More desertions from Congress in poll-bound Gujarat

Express News Service

AHMEDABAD:  With the poll fever in Gujarat rising every day, the season of switching loyalties is also peaking. Political leaders are busy exploring options and looking for greener pastures keeping the electoral prospects of various parties in mind. The latest to jump the ship are Manilal Vaghela and Kailash Gadhvi, both from the Congress, who have decamped to the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), respectively.

Vaghela, a former Congress MLA whom the party had denied ticket in the 2017 Assembly elections in favour of Independent candidate Jignesh Mevani, joined the BJP on Sunday along with several of his supporters. State BJP president CR Patil welcomed him to the party fold at the ‘Vijay Vishwas Sammelan’ in Vadgam town of Banaskantha district.

Vaghela, who was among the senior-most Congress leaders in the state and was associated with the party right from the beginning of his political career, had resigned from the party in November last year. With Mevani, Vadgam’s current MLA, arrested in Assam and Vaghela now in the BJP, it will interesting to see the how the poll battle will be poised in the constituency that has been a Congress bastion.

Since being thrown out of Vadgam, the veteran had nursed a grievance and said as much in his letter to Congress president Sonia Gandhi. He had pointed out  that injustice was done to him despite his loyalty to the party during Ahmed Patel’s Rajya Sabha election in 2017, when around 15 party MLAs resigned. 

Vaghela had earlier this month met PM Narendra Modi in Delhi. According to BJP sources, his induction is part of the party’s strategy to increase its presence on seats which are considered Congress strongholds. The party is eying the seats where it has traditionally been weak so as to offset any losses it may face in seats it had won last time.

Gadhvi, the longstanding spokesperson of Congress, also left the party on Sunday. “I do not think that the party (Congress) has the energy or the will to fight and conquer the ruling BJP. AAP has the power to fight evil and raise people’s issues and resolve them,” he said.