Shankersinh Vaghela, former Gujarat chief minister and one time close associate of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, resigned from the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP).
The 79-year-old leader is visibly peeved over recent political developments within the NCP, and he was removed as the state party president without his knowledge. He is also reportedly upset over the lone NCP MLA Kandhal Jadeja voting in favour of the BJP in the recently concluded Rajya Sabha elections.
At a press conference at his residence in Gandhinagar, Vaghela announced that he would form a new political outfit—Praja Shakti Morcho.
Floating political parties and morchas is not new for this seasoned politician behind whom PM Modi used to ride pillion during their RSS days. Vaghela and Modi were often referred to as the 'Jay and Veeru jodi' of Hindi blockbuster movie Sholay by many.
Vaghela, who along with Modi, is credited of laying the foundation of the BJP in Gujarat, which later came to be known as BJP's Hindutva laboratory, had staged the famous Khajuraho rebellion in 1995. After the rebellion, the then chief minister Keshubhai Patel had to make way for compromise chief minister ministerial candidate Suresh Mehta.
However, Vaghela toppled the BJP government and came to power under the banner of Rashtriya Janata Party, with the support of the Congress. In the next elections, RJP lost miserably. It then merged with the Congress.
In the year 2002, when communal riots broke out in Gujarat, he was made Gujarat Congress president. Having become a Union minister under in the UPA government, Vaghela again left the Congress ahead of Rajya Sabha elections in 2017 and was considered one of the instrumental factors in the attempt to defeat senior Congress leader Ahmed Patel. He, however, managed to win the Rajya Sabha election.
Later in the year, he supported an insignificant outfit that failed in the elections.
Vaghela, who has almost become a spent force, has been criticising the ruling BJP for allegedly orchestrating the resignations of eight Congress MLAs before the recently concluded Rajya Sabha elections. While BJP's all three candidates won, Congress could manage victory of only one out of the two candidates fielded.
During COVID-19 times, he has taken to the social media in a big way to address the grievances of people suffering due to "government apathy".