BJP national president Amit Shah’s sudden meeting with the leader of Opposition in Gujarat Assembly Shankersinh Vaghela on Thursday in State capital Gandhinagar created ripples in the political circles of Gujarat.

However, Vaghela later on clarified that Shah along with Gujarat CM Vijay Rupani and Gujarat BJP president Jitu Vaghani came to his office inside the Gujarat Assembly complex for just a courtesy visit.

Interestingly none of the Congress leaders or legislators was present during the meeting.

“Nothing secret in the meeting as door of my chamber was open. I met Shah after a gap of almost 7-8 years and talked about each other’s health. That’s it,” said the 77-year-old Congress leader. In fact the courtesy meet came amidst BJP seeking to decimate Opposition Congress in the State by targeting victory in 150 of 182 Assembly seats. Moreover, Vaghela originally comes from saffron brigade and had shifted to Congress after he broke up with BJP over a decade-and-a-half ago.

Vaghela was part of the Keshubhai-Narendra Modi-Vaghela trio that saw fortunes of BJP’s rise in Gujarat by ousting Congress party from power in mid 1990s. Congress has for over two decades been trying to upstage BJP in the State without any success.

“Pradeepsinh Jadeja (Minister of State for Home in Gujarat) contacted my office and said that Amitbhai would be in Assembly and would like to pay a courtesy visit, so I agreed,” Vaghela said, adding that even PM Narendra Modi had gone to meet former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh when he took over as Prime Minister. It was nothing but a courtesy call with doors open for everyone to see and hear, he added.

However, both Shah and Vaghela did not spare each other when it came to their official work. Shah, who represents Naranpura constituency from Ahmedabad in the Assembly, did not hold himself back in criticising Congress party for its governance in the State two decades ago.

He said that Congress leaders were busy in promoting anti-social elements and were responsible for promoting illegal liquor trade in the State by their inaction during their rule. Vaghela on his part said that the manner in which Shah spoke in the Assembly was nothing short of an ‘Encounter’.