Will Shankersinh Vaghela dump Rahul Gandhi? Gujarat Congress veteran to reveal today

Ahmedabad: Congress leader Shankersinh Vaghela, said to be unhappy with his party, is expected to showcase his strength during his 77th birthday celebrations with his supporters and legislators in Gandhinagar on Friday.

Vaghela will make an important announcement and share his "feelings" with his supporters during a mega gathering.

The Congress veteran has been sulking for not having been given a free hand for the party's campaign for the state Assembly Election 2017.

Vaghela, who is the Leader of Opposition in the state assembly, last month said: "If the party wishes to concede defeat even before the fight has begun, I would not commit suicide with it."

Vaghela had earlier slammed the state Congress over "lack of homework" for the Assembly polls.

Speculations are also rife that Vaghela has made his mind to part with Congress, if not retirement.

Meanwhile, the state unit has issued a warning to the veteran leader not to "play any politics".

The maverick Vaghela, who had snapped ties with the Bharatiya Janata Party in the late nineties to set up his own party that later merged with the Congress, has been asserting before the party high command to hand over reins of the December election battle to him.

Although publicly he has been denying that he wanted to be projected as the chief ministerial candidate, Vaghela said at the June 24 meeting and has often asserted before the media and his supporters publicly that there had been no planning for the elections and he had objections to the ad-hocism going on, taking a dig at Gujarat Congress president Bharatsinh Solanki.

In a huge embarrassment for the grand old party, at least eight MLAs of the opposition Congress in BJP-ruled Gujarat appeared to have voted NDA candidate Ram Nath Kovind, who won the Presidential Election by defeating Meira Kumar on Thursday.