'Rebel' Congress leader Shankersinh Vaghela quits as Gujarat MLA in presence of BJP leaders, says 'not joining any party'

Ahmedabad: Rebel Congress leader Shankersinh Vaghela, who was sacked last week for trying to sabotage the winning prospects of the party's official nominee Ahmed Patel in the August 8 Rajya Sabha elections, resigned as a legislator on Wednesday.

However, the 77-year-old leader dismissed reports of joining any political party.

"I was contemplating resigning as MLA for some time. I had a meeting with people of my constituency, Kapadvanj, and after informing them I resigned as MLA today," Vaghela said.

Vaghela, the Kshatriya strongman with pockets of influence in Gujarat, tendered his resignation to Assembly Speaker Ramanlal Vora in the presence of Gujarat Chief Minister Rupani, Deputy CM Nitin Patel and senior BJP ministers Bhupendrasinh Chudasama and Pradeepsinh Jadeja. 

The presence of all these senior BJP ministers triggered a fresh bout of speculation about Vaghela's joining the saffron party ahead of the assembly polls scheduled later this year.

"As I have said in the past, I will not be joining any political party. I will not retire from politics, but I will not join any political party," Vaghela said when asked why senior BJP leaders accompanied him when he went to tender his resignation.

"The Congress' back has been broken in Gujarat after Vaghela's resignation. It has been weakened beyond imagination and the BJP will definitely benefit from it," Rupani said, but did not speak about the possibility of his return to BJP.

With this, the Congress party's strength in the state Assembly has been reduced to 43. 

The party had already come down to this effective number from its total 57 during the elections to the Upper House after six of its MLAs quit in July-end, while eight others, including Vaghela, cross-voted for BJP candidates -- party president Amit Shah, Union Minister Smriti Irani and Congress turncoat Balwantsinh Rajput, who happens to be the father-in-law of Vaghela's MLA son Mahendrasinh.

All the six who quit and eight who cross-voted were expelled for six years by the Congress the very next day of the Rajya Sabha elections in which Ahmed Patel scraped through with the lone vote of Janata Dal-United's maverick legislator Chhotubhai Vasava. Vasava defied his party's new union with the ruling BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) and voted for the Congress candidate.

On July 21, his 77th birthday, Vaghela had snapped his ties with the Congress and even resigned as the leader of the opposition. He had, however, not quit as an MLA. Vaghela, a former chief minister, had quit BJP and joined the Congress two decades back.

He had unsuccessfully sought to ensure the defeat of Ahmed Patel, a veteran Congressman and political secretary to the party chief Sonia Gandhi, in the August 8 Rajya Sabha elections with the help of disgruntled MLAs.

The Congress recently expelled eight party MLAs, including Vaghela and his son Mahendrasinh, for cross-voting in the Rajya Sabha polls.

These dissident lawmakers were alleged to have voted against the Congress-backed opposition nominee Meira Kumar in the presidential election. Kumar could garner the votes of only 49 Congress MLAs when the party's strength in the Assembly was then 57.

Ten Congress MLAs, including Vaghela's son Mahendrasinh, have indicated they would join the BJP soon.

Vaghela was upset with the Congress' central leadership over not being declared the party's chief ministerial candidate for the Assembly elections likely in December. The party high command had, however, refused to yield to his demand.

(With Agency inputs)