- For me doors of BJP, Congress and AAP are closed, so I decided to launch Praja Shakti Democratic Party, the party was registered a year and half ago: Shankersinh
- Vaghela had met BJP leader Subramanian Swamy and Rajya Sabha MP Kapil Sibbal in Delhi on Saturday
NE NEWS SERVICE
GANDHINAGAR, AUG 21
Despite bitten the dust in the 2017 Assembly polls with less than one percent votes, undeterred veteran politician and former Gujarat chief minister Shankersinh Vaghela on Sunday floated a new party, Praja Shakti Democratic Party. His party will contest the upcoming assembly elections in Gujarat.
I met my long standing Jan Sangh friend today viz Shankarsinh Vaghela who has been MLA, MP, Central Minister, Jan Sangh General Secretay etc. He now has his own party due to differences with Congress and BJP. But when he was in JS we were good friends. Meeting him after years
— Subramanian Swamy (@Swamy39) August 20, 2022
Most of his promises are copycat of Congress and Aam Aaadmi Party and nothing new or innovative.
#Gujarat की राजनीति में फिर से एकबार पूर्व मुख्यमंत्री @ShankersinhBapu की एंट्री, प्रजाशक्ती डेमोक्रेटिक पार्टी के बैनर तले एंट्री।
गुजरात विधानसभा चुनाव से पहले शंकरसिंह ने जारी किया उनकी पार्टी का "पंचामृत"
क्या शंकरसिंह वाघेला की एंट्री की वजह से बदले जाएंगे सियासी रंग !? pic.twitter.com/10CaZiLxQP
— Kaushik Kanthecha 🇮🇳 (@Kaushikdd) August 21, 2022
Vaghela, who had quit the Congress ahead of the 2017 Rajya Sabha elections, said that the grand old party is not interested in achieving anything in Gujarat except fighting internally.
“Congress is not interested in Gujarat. More of their MLAs will switch to BJP. They should be serious about it. PM Modi, Home Minister, Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) comes here, then why Rahul Gandhi doesn’t come here. There is corruption here. A change is needed.”
He also targeted Arvind Kejriwal’s Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and called it a “B team” of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
Declaring his intent about his re-entry into electoral politics, Vaghela told the local media in Gandhinagar, “People are looking for BJP’s alternative. For me doors of BJP, Congress and AAP are closed, so I decided to launch Praja Shakti Democratic Party, the party was registered a year and half ago. Now we have a party.”
Vaghela has already made a plethora of promises to people of the state like – Rs 12 lakh health insurance protection for family earning Rs 12 lakh per annum, free education for children of such family till class XII, unemployment stipend for youth till they get employment, exemption from water tax, free electricity up to 100 units of consumption, loan waver for farmers, relief in electricity bills, new scientific liquor policy, etc. in the state.
Vaghela had met BJP leader Subramanian Swamy and Rajya Sabha MP Kapil Sibbal in Delhi on Saturday. He has requested them to extend support, if they feel Vaghela is doing the right thing by launching a regional party.
In 2017 too, Vaghela had launched regional party Jan Vikalp and contested elections, but couldn’t even get 1 percent vote and neither win single seat in the state. He himself did not contest the election.
He was a senior leader in BJP but broke ties in 1997 to form the Rashtriya Janata Party (RJP). He became chief minister of Gujarat with Congress’ help in October 1996. Later, his party merged with the grand old party.
In 2017, he left Congress and resigned from the post of Leader of the Opposition. Later, Vaghela joined the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) but quit it after he was removed as its Gujarat unit president in 2020 after the Rajya Sabha elections.
He has also been elected to Lok Sabha for five terms and served as Rajya Sabha MP from 1984 to 1989. He was the Union Cabinet Minister of Textiles from 2004 to 2009 in the first Manmohan Singh Cabinet.
Senior political journalists say that Vaghela’s new party will not make any impact in the ensuing polls.
