On a day when a posse of policemen prevented a heavily outnumbered rally of the Congress from entering the premises of the Gujarat legislature, the State’s most famous rebel, former chief minister Shankersinh Vaghela announced his return to politics.

Vaghela claimed the time was ripe for the formation of a non-BJP government at the Centre in 2019. He claimed senior BJP leader LK Advani would contest the Lok Sabha election from his traditional Gandhinagar seat. “Advani ji told me this when I met him recently.”

Vaghela said he had been meeting leaders of various parties in the past year. Among those he had met was Congress leader Ahmed Patel. In August 2017, Vaghela was among those who had voted against Patel in the Rajya Sabha polls from the State. After quitting the Congress amid much fanfare, he had floated an outfit which drew a blank. Amid speculation that he, too, — like his son, Mahendrasinh — would return to the BJP, a ‘disillusioned’ Vaghela senior was peeved at the BJP not ‘rehabilitating’ him.

On Tuesday, after holding a meeting with his supporters at his sprawling farm house here, Vaghela, 78, blamed Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his NDA government for “failures” on all fronts. He said various State-level parties were trying to cobble together a Grand Alliance for the 2019 Lok Sabha elections to prevent a division in anti-BJP votes. “There is nothing like a Third Front. We should strive to come together to defeat the BJP. Even the BJP and the Communists had supported the VP Singh Government against the Congress. I am, therefore, returning to active politics and will tour the country to unite the anti-BJP forces.”

Amid fresh speculation that he was again trying to keep the Congress in good humour after leaving it a year ago, Vaghela praised party chief Rahul Gandhi for “sacrificing” the PM candidature in the interest of Opposition unity. About his joining the NCP, he parried the question, but said the NCP could also field candidates in Gujarat in alliance with the Congress. Asked about his son and former MLA Mahendrasinh joining the BJP recently, he said even Mahendra had supported his latest move.

Cong rally a damp squib

Meanwhile, the Opposition Congress had announced a “massive” State-level rally of farmers on the first day of the two-day Monsoon Session of the Vidhan Sabha that commenced on Tuesday, and a gherao of the Assembly. However, the Congress could gather only about 300 people, including party leaders, workers and farmers, when it tried to reach the Assembly complex.

Seeing the security forces guarding the gates, some Congress workers fled the scene, others shouted anti-BJP slogans, a few threw stones injuring a policeman, as police dispersed them with a mild lathi-charge. Nearly 200 of them, including Rajiv Satav, AICC in-charge of Gujarat, and Gujarat Congress chief Amit Chavada, were briefly detained.

comment COMMENT NOW