Sulking Congress veteran Shankarsinh Vaghela today said he is not in the race for chief ministership but asked his party to do proper homework before taking on the BJP in the forthcoming Assembly elections.
The 76-year-old Rajput strongman, who has called a meeting of his supporters "to decide the future course of action", maintained that he will neither join the BJP nor form a new party.
Vaghela is sulking since over a month as the party high command made it clear that it will not name anyone for the chief ministerial post before the polls.
"I have called all my Congress friends, amidst the present situation, on June 24, and will ask them what to do next," Vaghela told reporters here.
"In the meeting we will decide the future course of action on what to do, when things are not moving in the Congress," the former chief minister said.
Vaghela also claimed that he is "not in the chief ministerial race".
"I have made it clear publicly that I am not in the race to become the chief ministerial candidate. My problem is, the Congress is not doing proper homework before taking on the BJP in the forthcoming Assembly elections," he said.
"I have conveyed this to (Congress president) Sonia Gandhiji, (party vice president) Rahulji and (senior leader) Ahmed Patelji," Vaghela said.
Two weeks ago, the senior Congress leader had represented his case before Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi in Delhi.
"I told them that by this time we should have declared the candidates, we should have decided that are we going to fight in alliance with NCP and JD(U) or not. But there is no homework, there is no preparation," Vaghela rued.
"I will not be the chief minister and will support whoever the party decides, but we have to do proper homework to reach the position that Congress can have a chief minister of his own," he said.
"But things are not moving in the Congress party, so we will meet and decide on future course of action," he said.
When asked if this was a pressure tactic to give him a free hand in the elections, he replied in the negative.
To a question on what will he do if his supporters ask him to join the Bharatiya Janata Party, Vaghela said, "I will not join the BJP", and also replied in negative when asked what will he do if his supporters ask him to form new party.
Vaghela termed the speculations in certain sections of media of his joining the BJP as "character assassination".
"Nobody can indulge in character assassination, even if they belong to the fourth estate of the democracy. They should ask me before writing such news," he said.
Vaghela recently 'unfollowed' Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi and some other colleagues on Twitter, triggering speculation in political circles that he may leave the main opposition party and join the BJP, his former outfit.
However, he later scotched rumours about quitting the Congress and returning to the saffron fold.
He claimed his act of "unfollowing" Congress leaders on the popular networking site was aimed at preventing "spread of false messages and speculation" about him.
The Leader of Opposition in Gujarat Assembly said he will remain inactive on social media till the state polls are over.
According to sources close to the Vaghela group, their leader is a "great survivor" and has managed to remain a key figure in Gujarat politics after dissociating himself from the RSS-BJP combine which has deep roots in the western state.
Vaghela quit the BJP in 1995, but managed to survive and today he is arguably the tallest Congress leader in Gujarat, they earlier said.
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