With electoral fever peaking in Gujarat and leaders of various political parties including the Opposition Congress queuing for campaign, Mahendrasinh Vaghela, son of former Gujarat Chief Minister Shankersinh Vaghela, rejoined the Congress on Friday.
The 58-year-old former MLA was welcomed into the fold by Gujarat Congress president Jagdish Thakor at the State party headquarters.
Senior Congress leader and Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot and AAP convener and Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal are scheduled to embark on a three-day visit to poll-bound Gujarat during which they will address public rallies in different parts of the state for their respective parties.
Talking to reporters, Mahendrasinh said he was rejoining the Congress without any expectations and will fight the polls if the party wants. Mahendrasinh, who was a Congress MLA from Bayad in north Gujarat between 2012 and 2017, had quit the party in August 2017, a few months before the Assembly elections, and later joined the BJP.
"The party leadership will decide whether I fight the polls or not. I have joined the Congress without any expectations. I had quit the BJP immediately after joining because I was not comfortable and that was the reason why I had not attended any of their events," he said.
Mahendrasinh was one of the eight Congress MLAs, including his father Shankersinh, who had crossvoted in the Rajya Sabha polls in favour of the BJP candidate in August 2017 and later resigned from the party.
Another AAP leader, Punjab CM Bhagwant Singh Mann, will address meetings at several cities and Gehlot’s counter part in Chhattisgarh Bhupesh Baghel will follow to campaign for the grand old party.
During their visit, Kejriwal, and Mann are scheduled to address six rallies. Gehlot will also hold six public rallies. During their visits, they will also hold meetings with the leaders of their party to discuss strategy for the upcoming elections, party functionaries said.
Elections to the 182-member Legislative Assembly in Gujarat, where the BJP is in power for the last 27 years, is due by the end of this year. However, the schedule for the polls is yet to be announced.
Despite the crossvoting, Congress candidate, late Ahmed Patel, had won the election by defeating the BJP's Balwantsinh Rajput. Notably, Mahendrasinh had not contested the 2017 state Assembly election.
Mahendrasinh joined the ruling BJP in July 2018 and resigned in October, barely three months after joining the fold. Without elaborating much about his sudden decision to quit the party, he had stated at the time in his resignation letter that he was resigning due to some "personal reasons".