Gujarat RS poll down to the wire

NEW TWISTS Estranged Congress leader says won’t be bound by party whip; NCP votes may prove crucial

On a day when the 44 Congress MLAs who were holed up in a resort in Bengaluru, returned to the state, estranged party leader Shankarsinh Vaghela launched a scathing attack on the party and indicated that he would not be bound by the party whip to vote for Ahmed Patel in the Rajya Sabha election on Tuesday.

A month after quitting the Congress, Vaghela, who had so far maintained that his vote was reserved for Patel, struck a different note on Monday. “My vote is secret. Like other MLAs, I got the whip from the Congress party, but it is just a formality. Party members should not be bound by anything. Voting should be free of any whip,” Vaghela told reporters.

The former chief minister’s exit had triggered a crisis in the Congress, with six MLAs resigning from the party and bringing down its strength in the Gujarat assembly from 57 to 51. Three of the legislators later joined the BJP.

The Congress, which had flown 44 MLAs to Bengaluru nine days ago to ensure the re-election of party candidate Patel, brought them to a resort at Anand on Monday morning. Vaghela and six other MLAs considered close to him were not part of this group.

The veteran leader slammed Congress MLAs for flying out at a time when floods were ravaging the state. “Even if they (MLAs) contest in the next elections, will people forget that they had left the state when their services were required the most? Will they be able to win? The party should not have tied up its members in this manner,” he asserted.

In an indirect attack on Patel,

My vote is secret. Like other MLAs, I got the whip from the party, but it is just a formality. Party members should not be bound by anything.

Vaghela said: “It’s the MLAs who elect leaders to the upper house. Rajya Sabha members should be in regular contact with MLAs. I am glad that this election has shown how even one MLA can be important for the party.”

Patel is contesting against three BJP candidates – including party chief Amit Shah, Union

minister Smriti Irani, and former Congress MLA Balwantsinh Rajput – in the Rajya Sabha election. Though the Congress claims to have the support of 44 MLAs, the remaining seven are yet to make their stand clear.

The Congress may now have to depend on three votes from other parties, including the Nationalist Congress Party

(NCP) and Janata Dal (United).

In an interesting twist, NCP leader Praful Patel first said on Monday that his party is still undecided on which party to support. The NCP has two MLAs – Kandhal Jadeja and Jayant Patel – in the Gujarat assembly. Late in the evening a television report said it had issued a whip to vote in favour of the Congress.