Former Gujarat CM Shankersinh Vaghela Expresses Readiness to Join Congress

Former Gujarat chief minister Shankersinh Vaghela said on Wednesday he is ready to rejoin the Congress party with the explicit aim of unseating the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party in the state, according to a report in The Indian Express.

The declaration marks a potential shift in Gujarat's opposition landscape ahead of the next electoral cycle. Vaghela, a veteran politician who previously served as chief minister in the 1990s and later left the Congress, framed his willingness to return as part of a broader effort to consolidate anti-BJP forces in a state where the party has held power continuously for more than two decades.

His remarks come amid ongoing attempts by opposition parties to stitch together a united front capable of challenging the BJP's organisational dominance in Gujarat. Vaghela's political trajectory — from the BJP to the Congress, a brief stint leading a breakaway faction, and now a signal to return to the Congress fold — reflects the fluid alignments that have characterised the state's politics in recent years.

The BJP has won every assembly election in Gujarat since 1995, most recently securing a record mandate in 2022. The Congress, meanwhile, has struggled to rebuild its cadre and leadership after a series of defections and electoral setbacks. Vaghela's statement suggests at least one prominent former chief minister believes his re-entry could help reverse that trajectory, though the Congress leadership has not publicly responded to the offer.

It remains unclear whether formal talks have begun between Vaghela and the Congress high command, or what role he might seek or be offered in any renewed arrangement.