Ahmedabad: To bring together regional parties aiming to form an anti-BJP front in the coming 2019 Lok Sabha elections, former Gujarat Congress leader Shankersinh Vaghela has come forward by expressing his desire to play the crucial role of a coordinator to forge such front among the parties.
Meanwhile, Mr. Vaghela has clarified that he has not been requested by any of the regional parties for coordination to forge such an alliance, but his backers have called him on to unite such kind of parties to create an anti-BJP front before the 2019 elections are held.
The former Gujarat chief minister said, “My supporters are of the opinion that I should play the role of a coordinator to unite various regional parties which are against the ruling BJP. Even I felt that better coordination is needed between parties.”
The senior politician from the state of Gujarat, aged about 78 years old has spoken to journalists in the district of Gandhinagar after a meeting was held with his supporters.
“I am not in favor of a Third Front. In an election, it’s always one versus another. There are always two players. My idea is to create a second front. I am talking about an alliance of various parties, though ideologically opposite, which would take on the BJP by coming together,” he said.
He explained his aim by giving a simple example of the CPI(M) and the Congress, which are opposite and against each other in the state of Kerala and West Bengal, but both are aiming to fight against their common opponent, the BJP in the coming Lok Sabha elections.
“I firmly believe anti-BJP votes must never get divided. Thus, my intention is to unite regional parties such as the TRS, the TDP, the CPI(M) and the NCP, and clear their differences in order to give a united fight to the BJP,” said Mr. Vaghela.
He further went on to claim that the veteran BJP party leader Lal Krishna Advani, who represents the Gandhinagar seat in the Lok Sabha, wants to take part in the elections of 2019.
“I met Advani Ji and many other leaders during my travel across the country recently. Advani ji told me that he will fight the upcoming Lok Sabha polls from Gandhinagar,” claimed Mr. Vaghela.
Talking about reports going viral regarding his increasing proximity with the Nationalist Congress Party president Sharad Pawar, Mr. Vaghela also clarified that he had no intentions of joining NCP or any other party.
But the most astonishing fact is that his own son, Mahendrasinh Vaghela, who belonged to the Congress party as an MLA till 2017, has recently changed his party to join the BJP.
But, the senior leader Shankersinh Vaghela himself belonged to the BJP party until 1998 and was a former Union Minister.
Mr. Vahela had floated his party called as ‘Jan Vikalp’ after quitting the Congress in the backdrop of Rajya Sabha elections and ahead of the coming 2017 Gujarat Assembly elections.
Meanwhile, all the candidates numbering more than 100 fielded for the new front did not won the elections held in December.
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