Shaktisinh Gohil is new Congress chief in Gujarat, replaces Jagdish Thakor

Deepak Babariya will be AICC in-charge of Haryana and Delhi, a position that was held by Shaktisinh Gohil before he was appointed Gujarat Congress president

Ahmedabad: The Congress on Friday appointed Rajya Sabha MP Shaktisinh Gohil as the new Gujarat Congress president ahead of the Lok Sabha elections next year. Gujarat sends 26 MPs to the Lok Sabha.

New Delhi: Congress leader Shaktisinh Gohil was appointed as Gujarat Congress president (PTI File)

Congress general secretary KC Venugopal announced the decision to appoint Gohil along with changes in Mumbai and Puducherry. Legislator Varsha Gaikwad was appointed as Mumbai Congress president and V Vaithilingam was appointed as Puducherry Congress chief

“The party appreciates the contributions of the outgoing PCC PCC/RCC presidents Shri Jagdish Thakor (Gukarat), Shri AV Subramanian (Puducherry) and Shri Bhai Jagtap (Mumbai),” Venugopal said.

Gohil, who was the AICC in-charge of Haryana and Delhi, has been replaced by Deepak Babariya.

Jagdish Thakor, a senior other backward classes (OBC) leader who was elevated as Gujarat Congress chief in 2021, and offered to resign after the party’s poor performance in the 2022 assembly elections in Gujarat when the party reached its lowest-ever legislator tally of 17 out of 182. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) won 156 seats and the

Thakor congratulated Gohil for the appointment in a post on Twitter.

The changes were announced after a meeting of the party’s Gujarat leaders with the top leadership in Delhi where they gave their inputs about the future strategy.

Among those from Gujarat who attended Thursday’s meeting were Arjun Modhwadia, Shaktisinh Gohil, Amit Chavda, Shailesh Parmar, Siddharth Patel, Lalji Desai, C J Chavda and Deepak Babaria.

“The results of 2022 Gujarat state elections were shocking and completely against our expectations. While our Gujarat in-charge had immediately resigned, the state unit president also offered his resignation. Our national leadership initiated consultation with Gujarat leaders,” said Manish Doshi, spokesperson for Gujarat Congress.