HVK Archives: After doing Brutus, Vaghela turns Hamlet
After doing Brutus, Vaghela turns Hamlet - The Observer
Posted By Ashok V Chowgule (ashokvc@giasbm01.vsnl.net.in)
October 28, 1996
Gujarat Chief Minister Shankarsinh Vaghela, who has to
enter the State Assembly within six months, has two good
offers but very little to choose from either. Two Inde-
pendent legislators of Saurashtra have offered to vacate
their seats to allow him to contest from there, but
Vaghela may not find the seats good enough to accept.
Those willing to vacate their seats for Vaghela include
one legislator detained under TADA who was a virtual
terror in the coastal town of Porbandar and an MLA having
15 criminal cases against him.
Independent MLA from Kutiyana and TADA detenue Bhurrabhai
Munjabhai Kadcha alias Bhurra Munja has in a letter to
Vaghela offered to quit "for the CM to seek his election
from Kutiyana which will also ensure that the place will
not be neglected."
Vaghela has not yet decided from which constituency he
will seek his election to the Assembly.
Mahipatsinh Jadeja, an independent MIA from Gondal who
has 15 criminal cases against him ranging from attempt to
murder, armed dacoity and possession of arms, has also
offered his seat to Vaghela.
In fact, while the power struggle in Gandhinagar last
month was at its peak, Jadeja had organised a massive
Rajput rally attended by Shankarsinh Vaghela in Gondal to
pledge support to 'Bapu' and his party.
With no let-up in police pressure on criminals and gang-
sters and lessons to learn from the former government
which backed a complete crackdown on them, there is an
inherent motive for these criminal MLAs to rally behind
Vaghela. They are too willing to do favours to the new
ministry to gain protection for their (mis)deeds.
Bhurra Munja was till recently the undisputed don on the
coast of Porbandar and had unleashed a reign of terror
with a daily record of shootouts, murders of rival gang
members, smuggling and possession of arms. He flourished
under political patronage during the tenure of the Con-
gress government. Before his sojourn into the underworld
and later into politics, Munja ran a successful transport
business in UK along with his British wife. He first
initiated his sister-in-law Santok Jadeja, also known as
the Mafia Queen, into politics by getting her elected as
an MLA after his gangster brother Sarman Munja was mur-
dered in 1986. But soon after, Santok Jadeja, who took
over the reins of the underworld set up by her husband,
and Munja fell apart, and he took over the underworld
operations. Later he was elected MLA when he contested
as an Independent from Kutiyana and ousted Santok Jadeja.
With tile former BJP government taking a firm stand on
crime and ganglords, Munja was arrested on November 2,
1995 and was booked under TADA for possession of AK-56
rifles.
He was recently released on bad.
"I do not have any more interest in being ail MLA," Munja
wrote ill his letter, adding, "My aim was to bring my
family back to the mainstream of life, and I think I have
achieved that. If you chose to adopt Kutiyana as your
constituency, it will also lead to its development since
it has been neglected and remains backward till now."
Meanwhile, Vaghela will be attending a Chatri Sammelan
and a felicitation function at Gondal on Sunday organised
by Jadeja to honour him. Mahipatsinh Jadeja's son Anir-
udhsinh Jadeja was the main accused in the murder of MLA
Popat Sorathiya who was shot on August 15, 1988 during
the flag-hoisting ceremony and the murder of Jayanti
Vodedariya in November 1995.
Sources said that Vaghela, already under tremendous
pressure due to his image as a party breaker, will not
like to jeopardise his stint as Chief Minister by accept-
ing the seat from either of these legislators.
"Soon after his taking over as Chief Minister, the search
had begun for a convenient constituency for him and there
was a general consensus that Vaghela should be closer to
the state capital and to his stronghold Mehsana which is
pre-dominantly a Kshatriya region."
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