Five former chief ministers may return to Congress; Shankersinh Vaghela openly voices wish

Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi has opened a front against Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar over "vote chori" and arbitrary decisions in the SIR. Along with Congress, all the other constituents of the INDIA bloc are also attacking the Mahayuti government continuously. The BJP government is hitting back as well.

With the political temperature high at the Centre, talk has begun in political circles that some former chief ministers, including former Gujarat Chief Minister Shankersinh Vaghela, are on the path back to Congress. Vaghela has openly expressed his wish. When the media asked Gujarat Congress in-charge Randeep Surjewala about it, he hinted, "If anything happens, I will be the first to tell you."

It is being said that Rahul Gandhi has sent a firm message by opposing attempts to weaken regional parties and by taking up the issues of vote chori and SIR. This is why the return of five former chief ministers is being speculated. The names are former Punjab Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh, former Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad, former Gujarat Chief Minister Shankersinh Vaghela, former Maharashtra Chief Minister Ashok Chavan and former Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Kiran Kumar Reddy.

Apart from Shankersinh Vaghela, none of the former chief ministers has personally expressed a wish to return to Congress. Political analysts say the political equations will change if any of the five returns. Most of them left the party during Congress's difficult phase. The question now is whom Rahul Gandhi will allow to return. Except for Ashok Chavan, the other four currently hold no major political post.

Rahul Gandhi had expressed respect for Amarinder Singh during the Gen Z movement and called him his favourite leader in the BJP. Since then there has been talk about whether Amarinder Singh will return to the party before the Punjab elections. He is currently in the BJP but holds no major post. Ghulam Nabi Azad is currently founder and chief patron (president) of the Democratic Progressive Azad Party (DPAP). He resigned from the Indian National Congress in August 2022 and formed his new party in September 2022.

Kiran Kumar Reddy was the 16th chief minister of undivided Andhra Pradesh. Before becoming chief minister he had been Speaker of the Andhra Pradesh Assembly, an MLA and chief whip. He left Congress in 2023 and is now a BJP member. Ashok Chavan is currently a Rajya Sabha member from Maharashtra and a BJP member. He has been in the upper house of Parliament since April 2024. He resigned from Congress in February 2024 and joined the Bharatiya Janata Party. Earlier, he had been Maharashtra chief minister and a Cabinet minister in the state government.