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Business News/ Politics / Policy/  Ashok Gehlot named Congress incharge of Gujarat ahead of elections
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Ashok Gehlot named Congress incharge of Gujarat ahead of elections

Ashok Gehlot, who replaces Gurudas Kamat as Gujarat Congress incharge, will have four secretaries assisting him in handling party's affairs ahead of assembly elections

Former Rajasthan CM Ashok Gehlot. Gujarat elections is crucial for the Congress because ever since its drubbing in 2014 Lok Sabha elections, it has managed to form a government on its own only in Punjab. Photo: HTPremium
Former Rajasthan CM Ashok Gehlot. Gujarat elections is crucial for the Congress because ever since its drubbing in 2014 Lok Sabha elections, it has managed to form a government on its own only in Punjab. Photo: HT

New Delhi: Ahead of Gujarat elections in December this year, the Congress on Wednesday revamped its organizational set-up and appointed former Rajasthan chief minister Ashok Gehlot as the general secretary in-charge of the state.

Gehlot will have four secretaries—Lok Sabha MP Rajeev Satav, Harshvardhan Sapkal, Varsha Gaikwad and Jeetu Patwari—assisting him in handling the state unit’s affairs.

“Congress president Sonia Gandhi has assigned the task of looking after Gujarat affairs to a new AICC (All India Congress Committee) team," Janardan Dwivedi, general secretary of the party, said in an official press release.

ALSO READ : Gujarat elections: BJP, Congress to focus on agriculture reforms

Gehlot replaced senior leader Gurudas Kamat who welcomed the move and said that he had requested party vice-president Rahul Gandhi to be “relieved of all the responsibilities".

Ajoy Kumar, Congress spokesperson, told reporters that Kamat continued to be in-charge of the Rajasthan unit of the party.

The organizational changes are significant because Congress has been out of power in Gujarat for over two decades and is looking to make a comeback in Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s home state. It faces internal issues in the state, with the top leadership undecided on who will be the face of the campaign for the election due by the year-end.

ALSO READ : Gujarat elections: Congress’s Shankarsinh Vaghela back in chief ministerial race

“We are in election mode now so this change has been made. Gehlot is a very experienced leader and the top leadership is confident that he will prepare the party well for the crucial polls. We expect more changes in poll-bound state units," a senior Congress leader from Gujarat said, requesting anonymity.

Gujarat is crucial for the Congress because ever since its drubbing in the 2014 general elections, it has managed to form a government on its own only in Punjab and in alliance with the Rashtriya Janata Dal and Janata Dal (United) in Bihar.

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Published: 26 Apr 2017, 11:56 PM IST
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