Ahmedabad: Veteran leader Shankersinh Vaghela, who quit the Congress two days ago, resigned as Leader of Opposition in the Gujarat Assembly on Sunday.
In his resignation letter to Congress president Sonia Gandhi, he alleged that party leaders never accepted him wholeheartedly, and had actively worked to ensure his defeat in several elections over the past couple of decades.
He said some Congress leaders were conspiring against him ahead of the Assembly polls, expected to be held in Gujarat in December. "As I can see right now that once again history is repeating itself, as a well-planned conspiracy within the party is at work for ousting me during the forthcoming elections. Hence, I strongly feel that I should not remain in the party at the cost of my dignity and self-respect,” he said in the letter.
Vaghela also thanked Gandhi for making him Union minister in the UPA-1 government. Venting his anger on the Congress, Vaghela claimed he was left with no other option but to resign as his suggestions for the upcoming Assembly polls were not accepted.
In the three page letter, Vaghela recounted how Congress leaders had made deliberate attempts to ensure his defeat in the 1999, 2004 and the 2009 Lok Sabha elections, which he had lost by a narrow margin.
In 1999, the Congress high command decided to pitch Shankersinh Vaghela against Lal Krishna Advani from the Gandhinagar Lok Sabha seat. Vaghela declined and instead sought to contest from the Kapadwanj seat. Many in the Congress had then alleged that Vaghela declined to contest against Advani because of his BJP and RSS background.
In his 'farewell' speech on Friday, Vaghela announced he would resign as MLA on August 15, after the Rajya Sabha polls, to be held on August 8. The former RSS leader, who left the BJP 20 years ago and later joined the Congress, also announced that he will not join any political party, not even the BJP.
This is not the first time that Shankerinh Vaghela has openly stated that several leaders within the Congress have always conspired to ensure his defeat. On June 24 this year, Vaghela recounted the general elections of 2004 and 2009, saying that on both occasions, several Congress leaders had conspired to ensure not only his defeat but also defeat of his loyalists.
Vaghela had won the 1999 election and the 2004 Lok Sabha elections from the Kapadwanj seat. However post delimitation, the Lok Sabha seat ceased to exist and Vaghela contested from the Godhra Lok Sabha seat. Interestingly there were about 4 or 5 candidates with the name Shankersinh Vaghela, with just the little change in the spelling of the name. Vaghela had lost that election by a narrow margin.
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