Supremo Sharad Pawar appoints PM Modi's bete noire as national general secretary of NCP
Former chief minister of Gujarat and PM Narendra Modi's bete noire Shankersinh Vaghela on Tuesday joined the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) in presence of party Supremo Sharad Pawar. The ceremonial joining of Vaghela was held at a five-star city hotel in the presence of a very limited crowd that was against the taste and choice of the former Gujarat chief minister. Pawar and Vaghela said that their only goal was to rout the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) from the Centre.
Vaghela, 88, who has almost as much experience as Pawar, has been appointed as the national general secretary of the party. His designation will be at par with former union minister Praful Patel's position in the party organisation. Vaghela will be looking into affairs at the national and state level simultaneously, Pawar added.
He said, "We were looking forward to have seasoned politicians in Gujarat who can guide the NCP in the state. We concluded that Vaghelaji has great acceptability among people and is an experienced politician like me. We requested him to join NCP and to accept responsibility as the national general secretary. He will be helpful to us at the national level and will also guide the Gujarat unit of NCP."
"Our agenda is to rout BJP from the Centre and we are not targeting any individual. We have decided that we as a party in grand alliance will help regional parties like the DMK, TDP, SP-BSP, and others to fight against the BJP government. We will support non-BJP parties in different states to bring them to the forefront so voters have a good alternative to the BJP in the upcoming Lok Sabha polls," Pawar added.
Shankersinh Vaghela had earlier formed the political front Jan Vikalp Party with the view to provide a third option to voters of Gujarat during the Assembly elections in 2017. However, all 30 odd candidates of his front lost badly. Vaghela had left Congress in June 2017 following resentment against party leadership. However, he said that he would join hands with the party.
Vaghela said, "I had worked against the BJP and remained with Congress in the latest Jasdan bypolls too. I wish that the BJP is removed from the Centre. They have misused the central agency to harass leaders of opposition and indulged in corrupt practices."
Vaghela, in his early life was an RSS leader and had joined BJP in the early 70s that is before Emergency. He left BJP in 1995 and formed the Rashtriya Janata Party in 1996. He became the chief minister of Gujarat for a short time and merged his party into the Congress later in 1997. He has been a union minister, Gujarat Congress president and the leader of opposition in state.
SMART MOVE
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WITH RENEWED VIGOUR
- Vaghela’s designation will be at par with former union minister Praful Patel’s position in the party organisation
- Vaghela will be looking into affairs at the national and state level simultaneously, Sharad Pawar said
- The ceremonial joining of Vaghela was held at a five-star city hotel in the presence of a limited crowd. The newly appointed national general secretary is said to have as much experience as Sharad Pawar himself. He said that he wishes BJP is removed from the Centre
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