A week after Gujarat Pradesh Congress Committee (GPCC) chief Bharatsinh Solanki was rumoured to have quit his post, party chief Rahul Gandhi on Tuesday replaced him with Amit Chavda.

The appointment of Chavda, a four-time MLA from Anklav constituency in Anand district is being seen as a calculated move by the Congress central leadership to balance caste and youth considerations ahead of the general elections next year.

Solanki’s cousin

Chavda, 42, hails from the family of Congress veteran and five-time MP, Ishawrbhai Chavda, who is Solanki’s maternal grandfather.

Last week, Solanki had dismissed news of having quit as GPCC chief.

Party insiders maintained that by handing over the reins of the State unit to Chavda, “the party high-command has done a balancing act on all front”.

“We have a Patidar as Leader of Opposition, and now an OBC leader is the GPCC chief. Both the prominent caste groups — the OBCs and the Patidars — have equal weightage now. Also, Chavda’s clean image and pleasant personality goes well with all factions within the party. He is as young as Rahul Gandhi, and so the youth connect is also an advantage,” said Himanshu Vyas, a senior Congress leader and General Secretary, GPCC.

Chavda enjoys the confidence of Rahul as he was a member of the management committee for the recently-concluded 84th plenary session in New Delhi.

Soon after the Gujarat election results in December last year, Rahul had given signs of effecting a change to the State brass, by bringing in younger leadership.

Party leaders say Chavda is adept at electioneering and candidate selection. “He is an emerging leader and has good popularity not just in his constituency but across the Congress. He is soft-spoken, but knows how to deliver, and that worked in his favour,” said Narendra Ravat, a Congress leader from Vadodara.

However, insiders say that with his cousin at the helm, Solanki, two-time MP and son of former chief minister Madhavsinh Solanki, would continue to have a hold over the functioning of the party.

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