Besides @OfficeOfRG, which belongs to the office of Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi, Vaghela unfollowed senior party leaders such as Congress president Sonia Gandhi’s political advisor Ahmed Patel and GPCC chief Bharatsinh Solanki. Besides @OfficeOfRG, which belongs to the office of Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi, Vaghela unfollowed senior party leaders such as Congress president Sonia Gandhi’s political advisor Ahmed Patel and GPCC chief Bharatsinh Solanki.

In a surprise move, senior Gujarat Congress leader Shankersinh Vaghela on Sunday unfollowed 30 Twitter handles, including the Office of Rahul Gandhi, days after the party rubbished rumours of him joining the ruling BJP. He also skipped a key “Cyber Meet” of the party’s state unit here. After hoardings projecting Vaghela as chief ministerial candidate appeared in Vadodara last week, the leader of the Opposition in Gujarat had reiterated that he was not any such race, even as Gujarat affairs in-charge of Congress Ashok Gehlot refused to name the party’s CM face. The hoardings too had played on the recent rumours that Vaghela could join the BJP.

While Vaghela could not be contacted despite repeated attempts, Parthesh Patel, who handles his social media operations, said, “Bapu (Vaghela) told me last night that he wants to become inactive on social media. Accordingly, all the 30 Twitter handles, which were being followed, were unfollowed.” Vaghela had been active on social media and often tweeted through his official verified handle @ShankersinhBapu.

Besides @OfficeOfRG, which belongs to the office of Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi, Vaghela unfollowed senior party leaders such as Congress president Sonia Gandhi’s political advisor Ahmed Patel and GPCC chief Bharatsinh Solanki.

Earlier in the day, replying to a question from reporters in Bayad town of Aravalli district, Vaghela said: “I will contest from a place that you say… (We) have fought a lot. (We) should be fighting for the problems of people of Gujarat. It does not matter if we contest for the assembly or parliament elections.” On skipping the Cyber Meet, his office said that he attended two functions in Bayad and Kapadvanj on Sunday.

Responding to Vaghela’s decision to unfollow senior Congress leaders, Ahmed Patel told reporters on the sidelines of the Cyber Meet: “I am yet to speak with him (Vaghela). And without speaking with him, I will not comment.” On Vaghela’s absence from the meeting, he said: “I came to know that he (Vaghela) had some engagements, which were fixed in advance.”

There have been rumours of a rift between Vaghela and Solanki over the issue of CM candidate. Last month, during a meeting at Vaghela’s residence in Gandhinagar, a section of Congress MLAs had demanded that the party name him its CM nominee. Solanki, so far, has maintained that the CM nominee will be picked by the party high command and that too after the Assembly elections.

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