Not going back to BJP, says Vaghela
Maintaining that he is not “unhappy” but “demand” Congress should do home work for forthcoming assembly elections, stalwart Shankersinh Vaghela on Tuesday in an apparent warning said he would do what supporters would say after a meeting with them on June 24.
Denying rumours that he is going back to the BJP fold, he also ruled out forming a new party. “I am not going back to the BJP. And decide whatever my supporters would say in the meeting,” he told mediapersons at his office of Congress legislative party leader in Gandhinagar. Meeting will be held after he will offer prayers at Ahmedabad Jagannath temple on eve of annual rath yatra. He ruled presence of any of the current 57 Congress MLAs in the forthcoming meet.
The former CM, who had formed Rashtriya Janta Party in 1997 leading coup against first BJP government in the state, also ruled out another coup.
“Coup is out of question. In 1997, we were the ruling party and now, in the Opposition.”
He made clear the issues on which he demands clarity from high command. “I told Soniaji (Gandhi), Ahmed Patel and Rahulji clearly that this time there are bright chances for Congress( in assembly elections). So we must do homework and prepare all 182 candidates well in advance.”
The BJP, which is in power for 22 years now, will be seeking another term amidts anti-incumbency and in the backdrop of the Patidar agitation.
Gujarat will see polls by end of the year.
When deputy CM Nitin Patel on Monday said Vaghela is welcome in the BJP, Vaghela said he cannot be lured by any post and position.
A trial court on Tuesday denied bail to a 54-year-old ‘godman’ who was allegedly bobbitised in May by a young woman at a house here he often visited.
The court also agreed to a plea by the police demanding a polygraph test on the young woman.
The incident took place on May 18 when Hari Swami was at the residence of the 23-year-old woman and her parents. Soon after the incident, Hari Swami was hospitalised. Based on the complaint of the young woman, he was arrested. Hari Swami’s judicial custody ends on July 1.
But the case has taken several twists and turns. Swami first told the doctors that he bobbitised himself. Later, the young woman’s mother gave a clean chit to the godman. A few days ago, the young woman said the godman had never misbehaved with her and accused the police of fabricating the story against him.
She sought a CBI probe into the matter, saying she had no faith in the Kerala Police. The court on Tuesday asked the young woman to appear before it or through her counsel on June 26 to say if she was ready for the polygraph test.
IANS