Ex-Gujarat Chief Minister Shankersinh Vaghela's Son Returns To Congress

Mahendrasinh Vaghela, son of former Gujarat Chief Minister Shankersinh Vaghela, joined the Congress on Friday, ahead of the state Assembly election.

The 58-year-old former MLA was welcomed into the fold by Gujarat Congress president Jagdish Thakor at the party headquarters in Ahmedabad.

The development has come ahead of the state Assembly election, which is expected to be held by December.

Talking to reporters, Mahendrasinh Vaghela said he was joining the Congress without any expectations and will fight the polls if the party wants.

Mahendrasinh Vaghela, who was a Congress MLA from Bayad in north Gujarat between 2012 and 2017, had quit the party in August 2017, a few months before the Assembly elections, and later joined the BJP.

"The party leadership will decide whether I fight the polls or not. I have joined the Congress without any expectations. I had quit the BJP immediately after joining because I was not comfortable and that was the reason why I had not attended any of their events," he said.

Mahendrasinh Vaghela was one of the eight Congress MLAs, including his father Shankersinh Vaghela, who had crossvoted in the Rajya Sabha polls in favour of the BJP candidate in August 2017 and later resigned from the party.

Despite the crossvoting, Congress candidate, late Ahmed Patel, had won the election by defeating the BJP's Balwantsinh Rajput.

Notably, Mahendrasinh Vaghela had not contested the 2017 state Assembly election.

Mahendrasinh Vaghela joined the ruling BJP in July 2018 and resigned in October, barely three months after joining the fold.

Without elaborating much about his sudden decision to quit the party, he had stated at the time in his resignation letter that he was resigning due to some "personal reasons".

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)