Vaghela to go ‘abroad’ when PM visits Gujarat

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will arrive here on a day’s visit on May 23 to inaugurate the 52nd Annual Meeting of the African Development Bank (ADB).

Since September 2016, Modi has been visiting his home State almost every month. Gujarat is scheduled to go to the Assembly polls by the end of this year.

Meanwhile, amid intense speculation about his imminent ‘

ghar vapsi ’ (returning home), senior Congress leader Shankarsinh Vaghela, one-time mentor of the PM, hinted here on Tuesday that he will be going “abroad” for a week to attend an meeting of former MPs. But his destination could not be immediately confirmed. “This has nothing to do with politics. I will return after the PM’s visit,” he said, adding he wanted to avoid all controversies.

Former BJP-RSS strongman Vaghela, an ex-CM and current Leader of Opposition in the Vidhan Sabha, had recently “accused” the ruling BJP of attempts to “poach 20-odd Congress legislators,” a move seen in Congress circles as an attempt at arm-twisting his own party leadership.

Also, of the 57 Congress MLAs, as many as 26 had recently urged the party leadership to make Vaghela the Chief Ministerial candidate. But the party, apparently, cold-shouldered it.

Earlier this month, Vaghela, who has, of late, been skipping Congress party events and meetings, had left an important meeting called by Vice-President Rahul Gandhi in New Delhi, mid way. He also ‘unfollowed’ Gandhi and other party leaders from all social-media networks and deleted all political posts.

The only Congress leader in Gujarat to have a mass following, Vaghela, 77, has been giving contradictory signals over the past couple of months.

His flip-flops have given rise to rumours that he may, after all, return to the BJP and that the ruling party may offer him a Governor’s office.