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Vaghela's ultimatum to Congress

Amidst talk that the Rashtriya Janata Party will join the United Front, party supremo and former Gujarat chief minister Shankersinh Vaghela served an ultimatum to the Congress.

Setting a December 31 deadline for thrashing out a seat-sharing agreement with the Congress for the ensuing Lok Sabha and assembly elections, Vaghela has threatened to go it alone.

Emboldened by the recent coup staged by his party -- RJP leader and Chief Minister Diliip Parikh had caught all the parties unawares by ensuring the dissolution of the state assembly -- Vaghela said the RJP would not allow the Congress to dictate terms on seat-sharing.

The RJP is ready to give the Congress a higher share of Lok Sabha seats in lieu of assembly constituencies, he said.

If the RJP is ready for an alliance with the Congress, despite knowing that the party is on its death bed, it is because party president Sitaram Kesri has ''bailed us out in the past''.

In another development, the Gujarat unit of the Congress has suffered a setback when some senior leaders and two former MPs -- Prabhatsinh Chaudhary and Bhema Chaudhary -- quit the party and formed a new party called the Sardar Congress.

Former assembly speaker Himmatlal Mulani, former state ministers Pravinsinh Jadeja, Liladhar Vaghela and Sambhubhai Patel said that they took the step as Kesri was out to liquidate the Congress.

Former Congress leader Vidyut Thaker said the new party would go in for electoral adjustments with non-Congress parties.

EARLIER REPORTS:
Gujarat governor may impose President's rule
Gujarat assembly dissolved
BJP stakes claim in Gujarat

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