- Recently, Vaghela also formed a new party called Praja Shakti Democratic Party.
- With the entry of AAP & AIMIM, ‘secular’ Congress faces threat
NE NEWSSERVICE
NEW DELHI, AHMEDABAD, NOV 11
In a Ghar Wapsi of its kind, days after his son joining the main opposition Congress, former Gujarat Chief Minister Shankersinh Vaghela is likely to join Congress in the presence of newly-elected party chief Mallikarjun Kharge on Saturday.
LIVE: Congress President Shri @kharge and Shri @RahulGandhi address public meeting in Nanded, Maharashtra. #BharatJodoYatra https://t.co/3297hSAxv9
— Congress (@INCIndia) November 10, 2022
Incidentally, Vaghela was with the grand old party for two decades before quitting in 2017 after resigning from the post of leader of the opposition in Gujarat Assembly.
Two weeks back, Vaghela’s son and two-time MLA Mahendrasinh Vaghela had rejoined the Congress ahead of state polls. The 58-year-old was welcomed into the fold by Gujarat Congress president Jagdish Thakor at the party headquarters here.
शंकर सिंह वाघेला एक समय गुजरात में सबसे ताक़तवर नेताओं में गिने जाते थे. लेकिन फिर समय ने करवट ली और जिस भाजपा के लिए वो दिन-रात काम किया करते थे, उससे अलग हो गए. लेकिन ये सब क्यों हुआ था, इसके बारे में उनका क्या कहना है?
वीडियो: रजनीश कुमार और मनीष जालुई pic.twitter.com/aw3ApNGtK4
— BBC News Hindi (@BBCHindi) November 3, 2022
Mahendrasinh, who was a Congress MLA from Bayad in north Gujarat between 2012 and 2017, had quit the party in August 2017, a few months before the Assembly elections, and later joined the BJP.
Shankersinh Vaghela and his son Mahendrasinh were among the eight Congress MLAs who crossvoted in the Rajya Sabha polls in favour of the BJP candidate in 2017.
Shankersinh Vaghela is a former Gujarat CM and a former state Congress president. He has also served as a Union minister in the Manmohan Singh government in the Centre.
He was the Leader of Opposition in the Gujarat Assembly when he decided to quit Congress.
Recently, Vaghela also formed a new party called Praja Shakti Democratic Party. Sources within the Congress party said that Vaghela wanted to rejoin Congress and there were lot of talks happening. Congress, too, showed interest.
A senior Congress leader said talks are over and it is decided that Shankersinh Vaghela will join Congress on Saturday in the presence of Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge.
With the entry of AAP & AIMIM, ‘secular’ Congress faces threat
With the entry of All India Majlis-E-Ittehadul Muslimeen and Aam Aadmi Party in poll fray, ‘secular’ Congress faces threat of eroding its Muslim voter base in Gujarat.
Competition to bag Muslim vote seems to be getting fiercer in the upcoming Gujarat Assembly elections as the minority community now has several “secular” parties to choose from in the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-ruled state.
In earlier elections, the Congress was considered the only major contender for the Muslim vote in Gujarat, but this time, the main opposition party is facing stiff competition from smaller outfits to get minority electors on its side.
Congress is facing competition from Hyderabad-based All India Majlis-E-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM), Arvind Kejriwal-led Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and some other parties for support in polls from this section of the society.
In the 2017 elections, just three Muslim MLAs, all from the Congress party, had won. The number, however, was better than 2012 when there were just two MLAs. In the overall state population of 6.5 crore, Muslims account for roughly 11 percent and have a sizeable presence in around 25 Assembly seats.
Earlier this year, the Congress appointed its Wankaner MLA Mohammad Pirzzada as the working president of the party, in an attempt to woo the minority community.
State Congress president Jagdish Thakor, in a bid to ensure that the Muslim vote stays with the party, repeated a 2006 statement of the then-Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, who had said that minorities must have the “first claim” on resources of the country.
Thakor’s remark in July triggered a backlash from right-wing outfits that accused him of indulging in appeasement politics for votes.
AIMIM head and Lok Sabha MP Assaduddin Owaisi has frequently visited Gujarat to garner Muslim vote. His party had said that it would fight 30 seats in Gujarat and has already declared six candidates.
Meanwhile, AAP is working silently to woo the community. It had recently organised a road-show by Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann in the minority-dominated Dariapur area. AAP has so far declared three Muslim candidates.
Congress MLA from Dariapur, Gyasuddin Sheikh, is of the opinion that Muslim voters will stay with Congress, the ‘grand old party’, in Gujarat.
“In Gujarat, the situation is unique. Except for one seat of Jamalpur-Khadia, where Muslims comprise 65 per cent of the local population, on other seats, the minority community candidates require Hindu votes to win. Like in my seat of Dariapur, there is 40 per cent Muslim population. If I do not get votes from Hindus, I will not be able to win. So, AIMIM candidates in the state would not get Hindu votes,” he said.
“We have been largely able to convince the Muslim population this point that Hindus will not vote for AIMIM candidate. So the Congress is the only option for us. Congress gives six to seven tickets to the community every time,” he added.
“BJP does not give any ticket to us. The truth of AAP has come to the fore as people have realised that (Delhi Chief Minister Arvind) Kejriwal is not ready to speak on any issue of the minority community. He wants to be a holier Hindu than BJP,” he said.
“So AIMIM and AAP are not the options for the minority community here,” he added.
