Congress president Sonia Gandhi on Thursday approved a proposal to appoint seven working presidents in the Gujarat Pradesh Congress Committee (GPCC), including Dalit leader Jignesh Mevani, ahead of state assembly elections scheduled to be held in December.
Mevani, who won as an independent candidate from Vadgam constituency in the 2017 state polls elections, has publicly supported the party for the past five years. Although he has been seen sharing stage with senior Congress leaders including Rahul Gandhi and even addressing press conferences with state party leaders, Mevani is to officially join the Congress only now, sources close to the development said.
Apart from Mevani, MLAs Lalit Kagathara, Rutvik Makwana, Ambarish J Der, Himmatsingh Patel, Kadir Pirzada and Indravijaysinh Gohil were named working presidents.
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Congress general secretary KC Venugopal said in an official statement that the proposal to appoint Mevani and the six others was approved with immediate effect.
Recently, Patidar leader Hardik Patel, who was the working president of GPCC, quit the party and joined the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in Gujarat.
{{/usCountry}}Recently, Patidar leader Hardik Patel, who was the working president of GPCC, quit the party and joined the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in Gujarat.
{{/usCountry}}Earlier in March, the All India Congress Committee (AICC) released a mega list of office bearers in Gujarat, which inlcuded 75 general secretaries and 25 vice-presidents. It also had 19 Congress members who have been appointed as district committee presidents.
“This is the new structure of GPCC. The earlier one was scrapped two and half years ago. It had more than 500 office bearers. The new structure also might reach close to that number once all the appointments are made,” said sources in Congress.
Some of the notable names in the list included Satyajit Gaekwad president of All India Youth Congress and a former Member of Parliament. He has been appointed as the vice president of GPCC. Another Congress leader Vijay Dave, who contested from Ahmedabad’s Ellisbridge constituency in 2017 Gujarat polls and lost to BJP’s Rakesh Shah, has also been appointed as the GPCC vice president.