The Congress appears to be in no hurry to elect its legislature party leader in the Gujarat Assembly, nor has it taken any decision on the resignation of Pradesh Congress Committee president Arjun Modhwadia following the party’s defeat in the Assembly elections.
Asked when the AICC would be sending its observers to Ahmedabad to call a meeting of the legislature party to elect its leader, an authoritative source said “not yet decided.”
Former chief minister and the party’s campaign committee chief Shankarsinh Vaghela is said to be keen on becoming the Congress Legislature Party leader who would become the Leader of the Opposition in the state Assembly automatically.
The Congress has won 61 seats in the Assembly of 182 members. Its ally NCP has won two while “others’ won three seats respectively.
A section of the Congress is opposed to Mr Vaghela to become the CLP leader on the ground of his long association with the BJP and the Sangh Parivar.
They feared that the Assembly would be dominated by the past and present heavyweights of the BJP.
Mr Narendra Modi is the chief minister, Mr Shankarsinh Vaghela would be the prominent face in the Opposition and the Gujarat Parivartan Party chief Keshubhai Patel, the former chief minister who quit the BJP a few months ago, is another heavyweight in the House.
“Their active role inside and outside the Assembly would certainly harm the Congress,” they feared.
One of the factors behind the Congress’ defeat in the prestigious state Assembly poll was lack of a “face.”
The Congress defeated the ruling BJP in Himachal Pradesh because it fought the electoral battle with a credible “face” of the party — Virbhadra Singh. In fact, the party elected its CLP leader in Himachal Pradesh without delay in the presence of the Central observers.
But it has been failing to do so in Uttar Pradesh, Bihar,Tamil Nadu, West Bengal,Orissa due to lack of a face.