Relenting to the pressure tactics of its Vice-President Rahul Gandhi, the Congress replaced five Pradesh Congress Committee (PCC) presidents here on Monday.
Former MoS Railways Bharat Sinh Solanki, and a known leader from the Rahul camp, has been appointed as the PCC president of Gujarat replacing Arjun Modhwadia, a leader close to Congress president Sonia Gandhi’s political secretary Ahmed Patel.
The Rahul camp had been accusing Modhiwadia of being ineffective against the BJP. Congress General Secretary and Rahul confidante Ajay Maken has been made the new Delhi PCC president replacing Arvinder Singh Lovely.
Maken has been the face of Congress’ campaign for the Delhi elections.
The party, who ruled the State consecutively for 15 years, did not win a single seat in the Assembly elections this year.
Justifying appointment Former Maharashtra CM Ashok Chavan is the new State president, while former MP Sanjay Nirupam is the Mumbai chief the Congress.
The party justified Chavan’s appointment, though he was alleged to have been involved in the Adarsh Housing Society scam.
“Ashok Chavan is a very seasoned leader, who has not been convicted for any wrong doing. Amit Shah was made the President of BJP after he had got bail from the Supreme Court,” party spokesperson Randip Surjewala told reporters. Uttam Reddy and Ghulam Ahmed Mir has been appointed as presidents of Telangana and Jammu & Kashmir PCCs respectively.
Rahul to return According to a party leader, Rahul, who is on ‘leave from work’ for a couple of weeks, is set to return to Capital this week.
“Be patient. He will come back very soon,” the senior leader said when asked whether the new appointments were made after Rahul Gandhi’s directions. He added that many of the appointments were due for several years.
There were reports that Rahul was unhappy with the senior leaders of the party, including Patel and Janardan Dwivedi. It was alleged that the seniors denied freedom for Rahul Gandhi to run the party with fresh faces and for holding party polls in a democratic way.
Rahul may be made the party President at the AICC plenary session, scheduled in April. In that case, many senior leaders fear that t an overhaul of party machinery and many leaders will have to ‘retire’ from their positions.