Lotus blooms only for BJP, people left in mud: Former Gujarat CM Vaghela

Gujarat former CM Shankarsinh Vaghela urges all Opposition parties to take on the Bharatiya Janata Party unitedly

Former Gujarat Chief Minister Shankersinh Vaghela hit out at the Narendra Modi government on Wednesday over the Rafale fighter jet deal and rising fuel prices. He urged all Opposition parties to take on the Bharatiya Janata Party unitedly and regaled people with his one-liners. Calling the Modi government as not a “game changer” but merely a “name changer”, he said Modi followed the kichad, or mud model, where lotus blooms for the party and the people are left with kichad. Vaghela, who had been in talks with the Nationalist Congress Party, was tightlipped about his political affiliations in the run up to the 2019 Lok Sabha elections.

Together we lose

Delhi Congress Chief Ajay Maken on Wednesday said he would continue to serve as the president of the party's Delhi unit, but would understand if his party replaces him in view of his ailment. Maken said he was "not 100 per cent fit" and was unable to devote all his time to the party. He had recently said that he was suffering from a "painful orthopaedic ailment". Earlier, there was speculation that Maken had quit to protest moves towards a Congress alliance with the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) for seven Lok Sabha seats from Delhi. The AAP is still putting pressure on the Congress to agree to an alliance and field leaders such as Yashwant Sinha and Shatrughan Sinha. While Maken and others in the Delhi unit are against such an alliance, some in the central leadership believe a three-cornered fight in Delhi would mean all the seven seats going to the Bharatiya Janata Party. 

Praises and wishes for former PM

Thursday was former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's 86th birthday. Not just Congress leaders, but several Opposition leaders, including those who had called him names during his tenure, wished him. "The country is missing the wisdom of Manmohan Singh at a time the economy is in the hands of the ‘economically unsound leadership’," Maharashtra Navnirman Sena Chief Raj Thackeray said. In 2014, Thackeray had supported Narendra Modi for the post of Prime Minister. Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, who had emerged the foremost critic of the Singh-led UPA II government, said the former PM was "a man of integrity, sobriety and humble nature". In his wishes, actor Anupam Kher said Singh will like the actor's performance in the upcoming movie The Accidental Prime Minister. Kher, who essayed Singh in the film, hoped that he would get an opportunity to have a cup of tea and a piece of cake with Singh.