Gujarat Elections Series

Japan K Pathak

There’s no secret that Leader of Opposition Shankersinh Vaghela(76) is desperate to get party high-command’s nod for his projection as Chief Ministerial candidate in Gujarat ahead of upcoming assembly elections. After Congress’s success in Punjab elections in which regionally strong and well-accepted leader Amarinder Singh was projected as Chief Ministerial candidate by party vice president Rahul Gandhi, Shankersinh is pressing for his projection as CM candidate in Gujarat. But that doesn’t look as easy and obvious as in Punjab.

The RSS/BJP background tag is still attached to Shankersinh. Then unlike Punjab Congress, here in Gujarat there’s no unanimity on Shankersinh’s projection as CM candidate. State party president Bharatsinh Solanki is also a contender for this position. Some of Thakor community leaders of Congress recently held a meeting and decided to project Bharatsinh Solanki as CM candidate as he is from Thakor community. Some banners also surfaced showcasing the same in North Gujarat last month. Then there are other top leaders too in Gujarat Congress who are not comfortable to accept Vaghela as central face of the party in elections. A section of party believes that Patel candidate should be projected as CM candidate to get maximum number of Patidar votes. There’s a section in party which believes that projecting some particular person as CM candidate would discourage other top leaders and their supporters which would adversely impact the campaign. There should be no announcement on CM candidate therefore.

However, without waiting for party’s nod, Shankersinh has started projecting self as Chief Ministerial candidate. Shankersinh’s team has launched a Facebook page titled as ‘Bapu for Gujarat CM’. Today this Facebook page ran a live poll on who should be the next Chief Minister of Gujarat. While Shankersinh was projected as one option, the other option was BJP. The poll was appearing as sponsored(paid advertisement) on timeline of many Facebook users who don’t follow it.

In another development, Vaghela today also met Nationalist Congress Party(NCP) leader Sharad Pawar in Ahmedabad. Though this meeting was described as courtesy call, one should not forget that sulking Vaghela in 2011 was in talk with Pawar and Praful Patel to join NCP. Vaghela and NCP both had admitted this openly. After losing election on Panchmahal Lok Sabha seat in 2009, Vaghela in those days was feeling isolated in Congress and was seeking some good post. He used NCP as a tool and managed to get the post of Chairman of ITDC by then Congress-led UPA government in power.

Vaghela’s postures give signal of possible trouble for Congress in upcoming ticket distribution season. It has been observed since 1990s that Vaghela’s core strength has been a chunk of elected MLAs loyal to him. When he was in BJP, he rebelled against then Chief Minister Keshubhai Patel and snatched power through the strength of MLAs loyal to him. No need to say that most of such MLAs were given BJP ticket on suggestion of Vaghela himself. Vaghela is found at his best during every ticket distribution season ahead of assembly polls. He tries his best to ensure maximum chunk of tickets for his loyalists. He works hard for victory of his loyalists. Once he has good chunk of elected MLAs loyal to him, he virtually becomes an authority within the party which party high commands can’t afford to disturb. This is the reason, Vaghela is seeking not just his projection as CM candidate but also free-hand in Gujarat without any interference. This free-hand should be understood as free-hand in ticket distribution.

Knowing well about his modus operandi, the other groups of Gujarat Congress in order to control him may try their best to see that Vaghela loyalists especially those undeserving don’t get a good chunk of party tickets. We don’t know what Vaghela would do on such occasion, but BJP would take benefit of the situation for sure. BJP is already eyeing to welcome some ground-level strongmen of Congress to its fold.

At 76, upcoming assembly polls could be the last chance for Vaghela to try a luck for the post of Chief Minister. At this point, He seems desperate to grab this chance. Very independent in nature, Vaghela is misfit in any political organization at some point. But then he has tried to launch his own political outfit in the past, and he is fully aware how difficult the experience was.

DeshGujarat