Ahmedabad: Way for Shankersinh Vaghela’s entry into Congress is ‘open’, says Arjun Modhwadia

When asked if the joint address paves way for Vaghela’s re-entry into the Congress party, Modhwadia said: “The way for Bapu (referring to Vaghela) is open. The decision for the same will be taken jointly by Bapu and the party high command. We all agree for his return (into Congress).”

When asked for his opinion, Vaghela said: “Whatever Arjun bhai has said is true.”

When asked about his August 2017 rebellion — which saw him exit the Congress party along with a group of MLAs just before the Rajya Sabha elections — and whether he was looking to correct the mistake made in the past, Vaghela said: “Whatever was done at the time was done with full understanding. It is not a matter of correcting a mistake. We need not bother too much about it.”

Speaking about the court summons, both leaders said they will appear before the court as witness on October 6. Modhwadia said they had recommended Vipul Chaudhary’s name for chairmanship of the National Dairy Development Board (NDDB) in 2013. “The government can investigate the corruption charges against Vipul Chaudhary, who is still a BJP leader. But it seems Chaudhary had plans to fight the elections from the region which the sitting ministers in the state government did not approve of,” Vaghela said.

Modhwadia alleged that the difference in the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) had caused the fortunes of Dudhsagar Dairy to dip. “This was the biggest dairy in whole of Asia. Today it has fallen off the pedestal and the differences among the local BJP leaders have caused this to happen,” he added.

Vaghela, who launched an outfit called the Praja Shakti Democratic Party after quitting the Congress, had last month met Telangana Chief Minister K. Chandrashekar Rao in Hyderabad.