Gujarat Congress is going through its worst period since the state’s birth. After the late last century, it has slowly lost its ground. Elections after elections, the Congress in Gujarat has shown poor results, and the Gujarat Assembly Elections of 2022 was probably the last nail in the party’s coffin. In those elections, the Bharatiya Janata Party or the BJP swept aside the Congress by winning 156 seats in the 182-member house.
Congress only managed 17 seats, and because it is less than 10% of the total strength, it did not get the official status of ‘Leader of the opposition.’ Amit Chavda the former Gujarat Congress president was made the leader of the legislative party and more than 10 other MLAs were made in charge of many other posts, probably to keep the dissatisfaction under control.
Despite getting routed in the elections some six months back, the Congress high command has to date not replaced the GPCC (Gujarat Pradesh Congress Committee) President Jagdish Thakor. It was said that the central leadership of the Congress was very angry with the results of the Gujarat assembly elections. But the question remains if there was so much anger then why the Gujarat leadership didn’t change quickly? One would say that it was a repeat of 2019 when Congress lost all 26 Lok Sabha seats for the second time in a row. Both Pradesh Congress President and LoP at that time offered to resign but the decision was taken after almost six months.
In Jagdish Thakor’s case, he hasn’t even resigned, yet there is no action from the high command. But, finally, it seems that the blood of a few Gujarat Congress leaders has finally started to boil and there has been a demand from the various quarters regarding change in the top leadership of the GPCC. As per the news published in Zee 24 Kalak news portal, Congress is looking for a Patidar face for the president’s post in Gujarat.
If that is the case, then Dipak Babariya and Paresh Dhanani could be the prime candidates to become the president of the Gujarat Congress. The fact is that Paresh Dhanani himself resigned after the disastrous performance of 2019, as mentioned above. The report also suggests that party leaders have also conveyed to the high command that their wish is to see someone who believes in Congress’ philosophy should only be appointed as state president.
It is hard to understand that despite being rejected by the voters again and again, the Congress in Gujarat is still trying to play caste and community cards to make a comeback and not concentrating on someone who can win the elections.
Just two days back, the Congress MLA from Dariyapur assembly seat Gyasuddin Shaikh requested Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge, Rahul Gandhi, Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, and General Secretary KC Venugopal to appoint Congress President in Gujarat by taking various abilities in mind.
आदरणीय,@kharge @RahulGandhi @priyankagandhi @kcvenugopalmp हाईकमांड को अपनी विवेक बुद्धि और सर्वे के आधार पर कांग्रेस विचारधारा के प्रति प्रतिबद्ध,जमीनी स्तर के कार्यकर्त्ता को सन्मान देनेवाले,लोक समस्या को लेकर संघर्ष करने की क्षमता वाली व्यक्ति को गुजरात का अध्यक्ष बनाना चाहिए।
— Gyasuddin Shaikh (@Gyasuddin_INC) June 7, 2023
Shaikh is probably the only vocal Congressman during recent times but it is obvious that many party leaders from Gujarat are not happy with Jagdish Thakor still staying as party president in the state despite Congress is struggling to fight for its existence in the state.
eChhapu
