Shankersinh Vaghela kicks off campaign with yatra

Vaghela is set to visit several temples in Fagvel, Dakor, Pavagadh, Kholdagam, Somnath and Devmogra before concluding his yatra in Surat on October 2.

“I have experience for years. I have come to appeal to people to come together to find a new approach (in politics). A new way where there is no price attached to a candidate. We will select the candidates and then elect the candidate,” said the former chief minister, who was also a Cabinet minister in the previous UPA government at the Centre.

“Where there is injustice to common people, Bapu’s sword will rise for them with blessing of Goddess Amba,” said the 77-year-old leader, who is also known as Bapu, as he equated the formation of Jan Vikalp with the “struggle for Independence”, when “people came together to bring about a change”.

Vaghela is set to visit several temples in Fagvel, Dakor, Pavagadh, Kholdagam, Somnath and Devmogra before concluding his yatra in Surat on October 2.

“There are many leaders in BJP and Congress who are willing to join us. I have received calls from BJP veterans and even Congress leaders, who have been sidelined in the party. They have expressed their support to Bapu. We have got names of several such leaders, but we will not disclose it right now,” said Rajdeep alias Jamir Khan, a Congress leader in Surat.

Khan, who has starred in about 45 Gujarati films, including Deshre Joya Dada Pardesh Joya, said that he is a staunch supporter of Vaghela. “Bapu treats me like his son and everybody knows it in Surat. I have full faith in Bapu, and will remain with him wherever he goes. I will join Jan Viklap party and support him,” said Jamir who had defected to the NCP from the Congress in 2008, only to return to the party five years later. Jamir, who grew close to Vaghela in his second stint in the Congress, was also made a member of the National Jute Board and the Censor Board.

According to him, several textile trader leaders in Surat, who were part of the GST Sangharh Samithi, will meet Vaghela when he will wrap up his yatra on October 2.

In Vadodara, Congress leader Suresh Patel is all set to host a meeting of Vaghela’s supporters at his farmhouse on Friday.

“It is true that I will be present at Shankarsinhji’s meeting of supporters on Friday. I am his supporter and I share a relationship with him… But it does not mean I am not with Congress. My farmhouse is my commercial property and I give it out for events even to BJP leaders. Similarly, I am giving it out to Shankarsinhji. Whether I will charge him for it or not is my personal matter. But I have not decided to join his front,” Patel told The Indian Express.

Patel, who is also the former city president of the Congress, had emerged as a strong contender during the 2014 Lok Sabha primaries, initiated by party vice-president Rahul Gandhi, to select the candidates. Patel, however, had lost to Narendra Ravat, but the Congress eventually fielded Madhusudan Mistry to take on Narendra Modi from the seat.