Shankersinh Vaghela

Born and Education

Vaghela was born in a Rajput family in Vasan, Gandhinagar District, in Gujarat. He studied Master of Arts from Gujarat University.

Political career

Vaghela was an active member of Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) before joining Jana Sangh. He was jailed during the Indira Gandhi's Emergency. After the Emergency was lifted, he was elected to the 6th Lok Sabha (1977-1979) on a Janata Party ticket from Kapadvanj but lost that seat in 1980 elections;

Vice President of Janata Party

He was the Vice-President of the Janata Party in Gujarat and from 1980 to 1991 he was the General Secretary and President of the Bharatiya Janata Party in Gujarat. He was a member of the Rajya Sabha from 1984 to 1989. In 1989 he was elected to the 9th Lok Sabha (1989–91) from Gandhinagar and in 1991 he was re-elected to the 10th Lok Sabha (1991–96) from Godhra.

Chief Minister

In 1995, BJP won a majority of 121 legislators out of a 182-member Legislative Assembly, who expressed a preference for Vaghela as their leader. However, the BJP leadership installed Keshubhai Patel as the Chief Minister, and the support for Vaghela was gradually eroded. Narendra Modi is said to have thrown his weight behind Patel in preference to Vaghela, and held responsible for the ensuing events.

Rebel

In September 1995, Vaghela rebelled against the BJP leadership with the support of 47 MLAs. In the subsequent compromise worked out by the leadership, Keshubhai Patel was replaced by a Vaghela loyalist Suresh Mehta as the Chief Minister. Modi was temporarily banished from Gujarat.

Vaghela lost Godhra seat in May 1996 Lok Sabha polls, and soon left Bharatiya Janata Party with his supporters, bringing down Suresh Mehta's government. He floated his own party, named Rashtriya Janata Party and became Chief Minister with Congress Party's support in October 1996.

He won bye-poll to Gujarat Assembly from Radhanpur seat in early 1997. But he had to resign as Chief Minister during ongoing political turmoil in Gujarat in October 1997, and his fellow-rebel ex-BJP MLA Dilip Parikh became CM with Vaghela's reluctant blessings. Even Parikh's government did not last long and fresh elections for Gujarat Vidhan Sabha had to be called in 1998. Vaghela did not contest these elections. He merged his new party with Congress. BJP came back to power with thumping majority in Gujarat in 1998 and Keshubhai Patel became CM again.

Congress Party

Vaghela was now established as a major politician in Congress Party. He was elected to Lok Sabha in 1999 and 2004 from Kapadvanj as Congress candidate. He was made Union Cabinet Minister of Textiles in May 2004. Kapadvanj seat was reconstituted as Panchmahal seat later. Vaghela lost Panchmahal seat to BJP in 2009 Lok Sabha polls.

Ahead of the Gujarat Legislative Assembly election, 2012, he was appointed the Chairman of Campaign Committee. He contested from the Kapadvanj constituency and won. He is currently the leader of Opposition in the Gujarat Legislative Assembly. He has also served as the president of Gujarat Pradesh Congress Committee. He contested 2014 Lok Sabha election from Sabarkantha constituency in Gujarat and lost to BJP candidate Dipsinh Shankarsinh Rathod.

Vaghela had been appointed chairman of the India Tourism Development Corporation (ITDC), which runs the Ashoka group of hotels across the country.

Vaghela was one of 57 Congress MLAs suspended for wearing slogans against BJP president Amit Shah.

In July 2017, he left congress party and stepped down from the post of leader of opposition.