Congress dissolves its Gujarat unit; Chavda to continue

The Congress on Wednesday dissolved its Gujarat unit, but asked the state Congress chief Amit Chavda to continue.

Congress president Sonia Gandhi has approved the proposal to dissolve the panel of office-bearers and executive committee of the Gujarat Pradesh Congress Committee, said a statement from Congress general secretary (organisation) K C Venugopal.

The Pradesh Congress Committee (PCC) president (Chavda) shall remain unchanged, it added.

The Gujarat unit would be revamped and a new body would be formed soon, party sources said here, but the dates for revamping were not announced.

Chief spokesperson of Gujarat Congress, Manish Doshi, said the decision was in line with former party president Rahul Gandhi's suggestion to promote those who can perform.

The Congress lost all 26 Lok Sabha seats in Gujarat in the general elections of 2014 and 2019.

"Amit Chavda had suggested that the state PCC be dissolved following the last general elections. This decision by the All India Congress Committee is taken with the intention to restructure the organization," said Doshi.

"This is also in line with Rahul Gandhi's vision of performance-based positions. Moreover, our current state body is too large, having almost 400 office-bearers," he added.

"Large structure hampered our work and it was difficult for the leaders to fix responsibilities. Now we can expect to have a small state body with new faces. This restructuring is necessary ahead of coming polls," Doshi added.

Former Gujarat Congress president Arjun Modhwadia expressed similar views.

"The party is passing through turbulent times and facing many challenges. The party suffered a lot because it was not proving effective. Now I expect that new office- bearers would prove to be effective," said Modhwadia.

Senior leader and MLA Virji Thummar was more blunt, saying the party suffered in the state because new people were not given the chance to rise in the organization.

"Some persons are nominated every time in key committees, like coordination committee and election committee. Other leaders were ignored all the time. This has to stop," he said.

"We need to adopt the BJP's system, where the state body is rejigged every three years. Instead of inducting those who are loyal to a person, the party needs to induct those who are loyal and committed to the party," said Thumar, a former Lok Sabha MP.