With both JDS-Congress and BJP claiming to form the government, all eyes are on one man – Governor. 80-year-old Governor Vajubhai Vala is the man of the moment. Here is an attempt to introduce him to Telugu readers.
Before he was appointed as the Governor of Karnataka in 2014, Vajubhai Vala is a former RSS man who joined the BJP in Gujarat and served as the party president twice in Gujarat and even served as Finance Minister in Narendra Modi’s government. In fact, at once, he had sacrificed his assembly seat to Modi. Below is his political bio.
Highlights of Vajubhai Vala’s Political Bio
* Vajubhai Vala had joined the RSS in his school days.
* In 1975, Mr Vajubhai Vala was elected to the Rajkot Municipal Corporation and served as the Mayor in the 80s and 90s.
* During the emergency, he was imprisoned in Sabarmati jail for 11 months.
* Vajubhai joined the BJP’s predecessor Jana Sangh and soon grew close to Keshubhai Patel, a powerful Gujarat BJP leader who became the state’s Chief Minister in 1995.
* Vajubhai Vala had vacated his assembly seat Rajkot-II when Narendra Modi contested his first state election from in Gujarat in 2001. Vala had won seven elections from the seat.
* In the 2002 assembly polls, PM Modi moved to contest from the Maninagar seat and Mr Vala was back to contesting from Rajkot West.
* When Prime Minister Narendra Modi was Gujarat chief minister, Mr Vala was a Finance minister in his government.
* As the Gujarat finance minister, Mr Vala presented the state budget 18 times. He also served as the speaker of the Gujarat assembly.
