Did not act under CBI pressure: Shankarsinh Vaghela

Gujarat rebel Congress leader Shankarsinh Vaghela says he had sought an apology from Gujarat state Congress in-charge Gehlot for his comments that he voted for BJP candidate in the Rajya Sabha election under CBI pressure.

Gujarat rebel Congress leader Shankarsinh Vaghela on Thursday said his vote for the BJP candidate in the just concluded Rajya Sabha polls in the state had nothing to do with any kind of Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) pressure.

Former Gujarat chief minister Shankarsinh Vaghela.(Siddharaj Solanki/ HT File Photo)

“With regards to general secretary Ashok Gehlot’s comment that I was acting under CBI pressure, I want to put it straight and on record that the CBI is free to do whatever it wants. It does not matter to me,” Vaghela told the media here.

“I am not going to buckle under any such pressure, by any government, be it the Bharatiya Janata Party or the Congress. I lead a public life. I do not have any illegal business.”

He added that he had sought an apology from Gujarat state Congress in-charge Gehlot for his comments.

Vaghela, who quit the Congress in July, had asserted on Tuesday that he did not vote for Congress candidate Ahmed Patel.

In a jolt to the BJP, Congress candidate Patel on Wednesday scraped through to notch a victory in a bitterly-contested poll against all out efforts of the BJP to check his attempt to seek a fifth term.

The other two successful candidates in the election were BJP president Amit Shah and Union minister Smriti Irani.