Shankarsinh Vaghela Biography, Age, Wife, Children, Family, Caste, Wiki & More

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 in 1977 on a Janata Party ticket from Kapadvanj but lost that seat in 1980 elections.

 

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 (BJP) in Gujarat. He was a member of the Rajya Sabha from 1984 to 1989. In 1989 he was elected to the 9th Lok Sabha in 1989 from Gandhinagar and in 1991 he was re-elected to the 10th Lok Sabha (1991–96) from Godhra.

 

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. 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.

 

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.

 

In July 2017, he left Indian National Congress and stepped down from the post of Leader of Opposition in the Gujarat Legislative Assembly. Soon after he left the Indian National Congress, he launched a new outfit called Jan Vikalp Morcha ahead of 2017 Gujarat Legislative Assembly election.