Gujarat Congress seeks reward

Mistry, Vaghela may get Cabinet berths

After its best show in the parliamentary elections in Gujarat since 1989, the state unit of the Congress is now looking for a greater representation at the national level in the form of ministerial berths in the new government that is likely to be formed at the Centre by the party.

Foremost among the MPs from Gujarat who could be awarded a ministerial berths is Shankersinh Vaghela, who retained the Kapadvanj seat in central Gujarat by a margin of 80,000 votes.

Others who could be accommodated in the Union ministry include senior Congress leader and Sabarkantha MP Madhusudan Mistry, Kheda MP Dinsha Patel, who has not lost the seat on a Congress ticket for the past six elections and Tushar Chaudhary, son of former Gujarat chief Amarsinh Chaudhary.

Tushar Chaudhary fought his first parliamentary election from Mandvi and handed a crushing defeat to Mansinh Patel of the BJP, winning by a margin of over 1.73 lakh votes.

"Now that Sonia Gandhi will become the prime minister, I really do not care if I get a ministerial berth or not. However, there ought to be greater representation from states that performed well in the elections," said Shankersinh Vaghela, who is in Delhi to meet the party's central leaders.

Vaghela, who was asked to quit as the state Congress unit chief ahead of the elections, was, however, asked to co-ordinate the parliamentary elections, where the Congress more than doubled its tally from five to 12.

Senior Congress leader Madhusudan Mistry, who has been elected from the tribal-dominated Sabarkantha seat of north Gujarat, said ideally there ought to be more representation from Gujarat.

"Obviously, no one would reject an offer for a ministerial post, but at present, given the circumstances, there are several factors that the Congress central leadership will have to consider while allotting ministerial berths," said Mistry, who is in Delhi to meet the party's central leadership.

Gujarat Pradesh Congress Committee president B K Gadhvi said the party president Sonia Gandhi will decide on allotting ministerial berths.

Gadhvi is likely to go to Delhi on Monday.

He said the process of government formation is still on and the issue of ministerial posts for MPs from Gujarat will be discussed at an appropriate time.

Five BJP MPs from Gujarat were Union ministers in the dissolved Parliament. They were L K Advani from Gandhinagar, Kashiram Rana from Surat, Harin Pathak from Ahmedabad, Vallabh Kathiria from Rajkot and Bhavnaben Chikhaliya from Junagadh.