Gujarat's veteran politician Shankersinh Vaghela resigns from NCP, announces new outfit

Veteran Gujarat politician Shankersinh Vaghela on Monday resigned from the post of general secretary of Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) and from the primary membership of the party. While leaving the party he had joined last year, Vaghela also announced a new outfit - Praja Shakti Morcha - through which he plans to carry on his "public-oriented work."

Vaghela has written a letter to NCP supremo Sharad Pawar that mentions change of presidentship in the state unit and "recent political developments" as reasons behind his resignation. As a matter of fact, Vaghela was removed as state president earlier this month and was replaced by Jayant Patel. The other reason behind his resignation is said to be NCP's lone MLA Kandhal Jadeja who voted in favour of BJP candidate in the recently held Rajya Sabha polls in defiance of the whip issued by the party.

For the past one month, the 80-year-old has been actively helping coronavirus infected persons and their relatives who were in duress. Vaghela, fondly called "Bapu", had visited Ahmedabad civil hospital after its criticism by the high court as a "dungeon". After tendering the resignation, he said that through his new outfit he is going to take on BJP on the issue of rising price of petrol and diesel, among other issues in public interest.

Vaghela started his political career with Jan Sagha which later became Bharatiya Janata Party. In 1996, he orchestrated a political coup in which he toppled the first BJP government in the state and formed his own with the help of Congress. However, the government didn't last long and Vaghela joined Congress. He was elected as a member of parliament twice in 1999 and 2004 and was a minister in the Congress-led UPA government. He left Congress in 2017 months before the assembly polls.