press trust of india
Ahmedabad, August 7: Former Congress veteran Shankersinh Vaghela today chose to maintain a silence on his choice of candidate for tomorrow’s Rajya Sabha polls in Gujarat, but said Congress nominee Ahmed Patel remained his “friend”.
The former Gujarat Chief Minister said he was no longer in touch with the Congress leadership and dismissed the talks that he was in contact with the BJP members over voting in the election to the Upper House of Parliament.
Senior Congress leader Patel, the political secretary to Congress president Sonia Gandhi, is one of the contestants in the Rajya Sabha polls.
“Each and every voter is the owner of his vote. The vote is the personal property of an MLA (for the Rajya Sabha election). Therefore, I do not want to reveal whom I will vote for,” Vaghela, who recently revolted against the Congress, told the media here.
Stating that he and Patel had been friends since 1977, the year he was elected to the Lok Sabha for the first time on a Janata Party ticket, the 77-year-old politician said, “We have been friends since then and we remain friends till now. Even today, we talked over phone. Our relationship is not limited to politics.”
The Rajya Sabha election has become a high-stake battle for the ruling BJP and opposition Congress in Gujarat, where the Assembly polls are due later this year.
The election to the Upper House from Gujarat has received greater attention with BJP president Amit Shah and Union minister Smriti Irani entering the fray and the Congress re-nominating Patel.
Vaghela spoke to the media on a host of issues, ranging from the Gujarat Congress’ decision to move 44 of its MLAs to a resort in Bengaluru to prevent any “poaching” attempts by the BJP, his stand on NOTA and the recent attack on Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi’s car at Dhanera in Banaskantha.
