Cong names Gehlot as Gujarat in-charge after Kamat bows out
REVAMP Maha leader Kamat quit all party posts on June 6, alleging ‘loyalists’ were sidelined
Ahead of the crucial assembly elections in Gujarat, the Congress party on Wednesday appointed party veteran and former Rajasthan chief minister Ashok Gehlot as the new general secretary in-charge of the BJPruled state.
Gehlot replaces former union minister Gurudas Kamat who had requested the party high command to relieve him of the charge.
The change came at a time when the Congress is gearing up to face another difficult election in the home state of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and BJP chief Amit Shah.
Kamat had been at loggerheads with Mumbai Congress chief Sanjay Nirupam and party general secretary in-charge of Maharashtra Mohan Prakash over their style of functioning.
Alleging that “outsiders” were being given precedence over “loyalists” in the Maharashtra Congress and Mumbai unit, he had for the first time resigned from all party posts on June 6 last year. However, the Congress leadership persuaded him to stay put.
The breaking point came in January this year just before the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) elections when Kamat blamed Nirupam and Prakash for “driving out” the Congress loyalists by denying party tickets to them.
The Congress high command had then deputed former Haryana chief minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda to resolve the issues and iron out the differences between the two leaders. But Hooda failed in his mission and Kamat wrote to Congress vicepresident Rahul Gandhi on the day party candidates were announced for the BMC elections on February 3, requesting him to accept his resignation.
Then on the day of polling on February 21, Kamat again requested the Congress V-P to relieve him and followed it up with a letter to Sonia Gandhi after the BMC elections.
Kamat again met Rahul Gandhi last week after which the Congress decided to relieve him.
In his new assignment, Gehlot will be assisted by four secretaries.
As head of the party’s screening committee for the recent Punjab polls, Gehlot was credited with the “selection of right and winnable” candidates. The Congress swept the elections.