Gujarat Elections 2017 | Tale of 2 politicos: Marginalised, veterans watching from sidelines

The destinies of two Gujarat politics veterans —Shankersinh Vaghela and Keshubhai Patel — have striking similarities, intertwined with ironies and accidents, and crisscrossing each other's paths. And now, when Gujarat is in the midst of its most keenly contested election of the last two decades, both have been relegated to the background.

Vaghela, who chose to go alone and "experiment", has not found takers for his newly formed party Jan Vikalp. And Keshubhai, once the tallest Patel leader, remained conspicuous by his absence as the Patidar agitation raged in the state and threatened to disrupt the political course and discourse.

While Vaghela is known as an organisation man, having influence on the OBC votes on seats in and around Gandhinagar, Keshubhai, a Leuva Patel, has his influence in the Saurasthra region and outside.

Keshubhai, a member of BJP since 1980, formed a new party, Gujarat Parivartan Party, in 2012 after breaking a 32-year association with BJP. Vaghela, who had joined the BJP in 1970, after an association of 26 years with the party, formed the Rashtriya Janata Party (RJP) in 1996.

After two years, Vaghela joined the Congress in 1998, only to chart out an independent path again after a 17-year association. As his Jan Vikalp Morcha formed in 1977 seems to be going nowhere, his next move will be a closely watched one in Gujarat.

So, when Vaghela organised a meeting in the Bapunagar area of Ahmedabad a couple of months ago, announcing that he will lead a new political front, many recalled its striking similarity with a rally organised by Keshubhai in the same locality in 2012, to mark the culmination of his Parivartan Yatra against the Narendra Modi-led government.

Keshubhai and Vaghela were elected from the Visavadar and Kapadwanj Assembly seats in 2012. Vaghela had earlier lost Lok Sabha polls in 2009 as a Congress candidate from Panchmahal. Keshubhai later resigned from his Assembly seat in 2014, due to medical reasons.

Neither Keshubhai nor Vaghela are contesting any Assembly seat this year. Both veterans with long association with RSS are now in the political wilderness. Keshubhai kept a low profile after his Gujarat Parivartan Party bombed in 2012 elections, and did his "ghar wapsi", merging his Gujarat Parivartan Party with the BJP.

After breaking away from the Congress in July, Vaghela voted for loyalist Bawant Singh Rajput, who was fighting on a BJP ticket against Congress veteran Ahmed Patel in the keenly contested Rajya Sabha polls in August this year.

When asked about his experience in both parties, Vaghela says he was "comfortable" working in both BJP and Congress and unabashedly accepts that his "son was about to join BJP". He, however, insists he has no plan to join any party.

Born in a Rajput family, Vaghela, 77, also, flags the differences between him and Keshubhai.

"Keshubhai is sitting at home due to sickness and some family tragedy. I am politically active, though not in any political contest this time." Asked whether he would contest 2019 Lok Sabha polls, Vaghela says: "That I will decide then. But one thing is clear. I have not retired from politics."

A Master of Arts from the Gujarat University, while Vaghela mastered the art of politics, many around him say he was too assertive a leader to get along with others.

Keshubhai served as the chief minister of Gujarat in 1995 and then again in 1998 and 2001. A six-time MLA, he has the image of a reticent politician, unlike the flamboyant Vaghela.

Vaghela had joined the RSS in 1970, a decade after Keshubhai. While Vaghela, once considered a master strategist, is called 'Baapu', Patel is called 'Dhartiputra".

Both live in Gujarat capital Gandhinagar, once contributed to the strengthening of the BJP, and then tried to help Congress dislodge the BJP government in the state unsuccessfully.

While Keshubhai did not join Congress, Vaghela served as the Leader of Opposition in Gujarat from December 2012 to July 2017, before quitting Congress altogether on July 21 this year. Before that in BJP, Vaghela had served as its general secretary and its Gujarat unit president for 11 long years.

The unstated aim of Vaghela's outfit was to defeat the Congress after he quit when the party did not declare him its CM face and did give him a "free hand" in running the state affairs. A bitter Vaghela left no stone unturned to ensure the defeat of Ahmad Patel in the recently concluded Rajya Sabha polls. Ahmed Patel, however, won.

Likewise, Keshubhai also "blessed" the Congress after parting from BJP but BJP came to power with greater Patel support in 2007 and 2012.

Both Vaghela and Keshubhai, at different times, stood in Opposition to Modi. It was believed that Modi had put his weight behind Keshubhai way back in 1995, when the BJP got a majority with 121 MLAs in the 182-member Assembly of Gujarat. While most legislators then preferred Vaghela as a leader, the BJP leadership chose to anoint Keshubhai as the chief minister.

Months later in September that year, Vaghela rebelled with the support of 47 MLAs. Later, a compromise was worked out in which Keshubhai had to quit and Vaghela loyalist Suresh Mehta became the CM. Modi was shifted out of Gujarat for some time.

But the truce was shortlived as Vaghela soon afterwards walked out of BJP with his supporters and the Suresh Mehta government fell. Then Vaghela served as CM for a year, from October 1996 to October 1997, with Congress support.

He was succeeded by Dilip Parikh for a brief spell.

Vaghela, who then vowed to defeat Modi-led BJP in the state was once very close to him and people in Gandhinagar still remember how both used to ride together on Vaghela's Royal Enfield bike in the city. So was the proximity of Modi to Keshubhai that the former was said to have tilted the balance in favour of Keshubhai in 1995.

Later, the BJP again came to power with Keshubhai as the CM in 1998 as BJP got a decisive mandate (117 of 182), with Congress getting 53, and Vaghela's RJP merely 4 seats. Following the defeat of BJP in the by-elections for the Sabarkantha Lok Sabha and Sabarmati Assembly seats and a amid a view that governance was suffering and the party was getting weak, pressure was mounted on Keshubhai to quit. He resigned in 2001 and Modi became the CM. That was time for Keshubhai to rebel