Shankersinh Vaghela, an architect of political coups in Gujarat, is all set to play a spoilsport for major players in the upcoming Gujarat Assembly elections as he is making full use of the digital platform to attract people to support his party ‘Jan Vikalp Morcha’.
Vaghela had snapped his ties with the Congress in July 2017.
Vaghela had made an announcement that people who wish to contest in the upcoming Gujarat Assembly elections as candidates, can apply for a online-ticket for his party Jan Vikalp Morcha.
Vaghela’s party plans to contest for all 182 -member Legislative Assembly elections, and have already received 350 applications for tickets.
Jan Vikalp Morcha’s criteria for selection of candidate applying for tickets is that they should be familiar with nuances of politics and be ready to resolve people issues. The candidates will be shortlisted only after the 3-page nomination form is duly filled. The shortlisted candidates will need to face the Jan Vikalp Morcha’s Parliamentary Board.
Vaghela, a former Chief Minister of Gujarat, had quit BJP and joined the Congress two decades earlier. In 1995, when BJP won a majority of 121 legislators out of a 182 -member Legislative Assembly, Vaghela was the most preferred leader for the chief ministerial ship role; however, despite the preference, Keshubhai Patel was installed as the Chief Minister of Gujarat instead. As a result, Vaghela, with the support of 47 MLAs rebelled against the BJP.
He was still not declared the Chief Minister, but his loyalist Suresh Mehta was appointed the Chief Minister in place of Keshubhai Patel.
The Suresh Mehta Government didn’t stay for too long as Vaghela lost in May 1996 Lok Sabha Polls, after which he resigned from the Bhartiya Janata Party to form his own Party named ‘Rashtriya Janata Party’.
Eventually, with the support of Congress, he became the Chief Minister of Gujarat in October 1996. But as fate would have it, his leadership lasted only for a year, and he had to resign as Chief Minister due to ongoing political turmoil in Gujarat in 1997.
Vaghela then merged his party with the Congress Party. He enjoyed the status of a well-established politician in the Congress Party and was appointed the Chairman of Campaign Committee for 2012, Gujarat Legislative Assembly Elections which he won from the Kapadvanj constituency.
However, Vaghela lost the Sabarkantha constituency to a BJP Candidate in the 2014 Lok Sabha Elections. He served as the president of Gujarat Pradesh Congress Committee and was also the leader of Opposition in the Gujarat Legislative Assembly.
Vaghela has had a roller coaster journey in politics and was even expelled from the Congress Party when he cross-voted against the Congress in the Rajya Sabha Elections.
Finally, in July 2017 he decided to quit after being snubbed by Congress’ central leadership for not declaring him as the party’s chief ministerial candidate for the Assembly elections in December. Vaghela stepped down from the post of leader of Opposition and quit the Congress.
After Vaghela had resigned, six other MLAs of the Congress party also quit their state Assembly membership and joined BJP.
At the time of his resignation, Vaghela was accompanied by some senior BJP leaders, when he went to tender his resignation, which led to speculations that he might join the BJP.
Ever since his resignation, Vaghela had maintained that he shall not join any political party and launched his own party with the name Jan Vikalp Morcha.