Amit Shah to contest Gujarat assembly polls

Former Gujarat Minister of State for Home, Amit Shah, accused in Soharabuddin Sheikh and Tulsi Prajapati fake encounter cases, on Sunday said that he would contest the upcoming state assembly polls.

"I will not only be contesting the elections, but I am going to win this time also with comfortable margins," Shah, who is currently out on bail, told mediapersons in Ahmedabad.

"Last time, I had won from Sarkhej Assembly seat with the margin of over 2.50 lakh votes. Now, after the delimitation, it has been divided into three constituencies -- Vejalpur, Ghatlodia and Naranpura. I can win from any of these with comfortable margins," he said.

Shah, a BJP MLA and a close aide of Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi, was speaking at a press-meet organised to announce the Central Board of Cricket Ahmedabad elections.

"I am very much active in the party electioneering in the state and I will also take part in every public activity," Shah added.

In September, Shah had returned to Gujarat after a gap of two years, following the Supreme Court judgement allowing him to enter the state, rejecting the CBI plea to cancel the bail granted to him in the Sohrabuddin Sheikh encounter case.

Since his return to Ahmedabad, Shah had been keeping a low profile and stayed away from public functions as well as media.

The CBI has, in its charge sheet, named Shah as the kingpin in Tulsi Prajapati encounter case. Acting on a petition filed by Shah, the apex court had stayed all the proceedings in the Prajapati case.