Ahead of polls, Congress appoints 7 working presidents in Gujarat

Surat: In a bid to strengthen the party in Gujarat ahead of the Assembly elections due by the end of the year, the Congress on Thursday appointed seven working presidents in the state. Out of the seven names announced, five are sitting MLAs including Vadgam MLA Jignesh Mevani.

Congress general secretary KC Venugopal said in a statement that party president Sonia Gandhi has approved the proposal for the appointment of working presidents of Gujarat Pradesh Congress Committee with immediate effect.

Besides Mevani, the other four MLAs named in the list are Lalit Kagathara, Rutvik Makwana, Ambarish J. Der and Himmatsingh Patel. Kadir Pirzada and Indravijaysinh Gohil are the other two leaders appointed as working presidents.

The selection has been done carefully as the party has tried to balance the caste and regional equations. While Mevani represents the scheduled caste community, Makwana and Der represent the OBC community. Pirzada, who was a close associate of late Congress leader Ahmed Patel, is from the minority community while Gohil is a Kshatriya. Kagathara, once a close aide of Patel, represents the Patidar community. Himmatsingh is from the Hindi-speaking belt and is a former mayor of Ahmedabad.

Gujarat Congress had only one working president and the post remained vacant since Hardik Patel resigned and joined the BJP about one-and-a-half months ago.

Recently, Gujarat Congress leaders had meetings with senior party leaders in Delhi. Congress sources said the new appointments would help the party counter the increasing presence of the Aam Aadmi Party in the run-up to the polls.

(This article first appeared in The Week)