Keeping friends guessing

Top leaders of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Congress suffered pangs of nervousness on the eve of elections to three Rajya Sabha seats from Gujarat. The BJP has laid much in store to ensure that Congress leader Ahmed Patel is defeated. The Congress has tried all it can to frustrate the BJP machinations. On poll eve, former Congress veteran Shankersinh Vaghela (pictured), who recently quit as its leader in the Gujarat assembly, was unwilling to announce his choice in Tuesday’s contest. “Each and every voter is the owner of his vote. The vote is the personal property of an MLA (for the Rajya Sabha election). Therefore, I do not want to reveal whom I will vote for,” Vaghela said. He, however, said Patel and he have been friends since 1977. “We have been friends since then and we remain friends till now. Even today, we talked over phone. Our relationship is not limited to politics,” Vaghela said. BJP chief Amit Shah has appointed party general secretary Bhupender Yadav to be in Ahmedabad to oversee the party’s preparations.