Senior Congress leader and general secretary of All India Congress Committee Gurudas Kamat resigned from all party posts on Wednesday.
[File] Gurudas Kamat | PTI
His resignation came after the AICC announced that Ashok Gehlot, former chief minister of Rajasthan and general secretary of the AICC was appointed as party observer for Gujarat. Gehlot would be assisted by Rajiv Satav, MP and former AIYC President. The announcement was made by AICC general secretary Janardan Dwivedi in a press release.
Kamat, a former MP, has been the Gujarat state observer of Congress party for over four years. He had earlier expressed his displeasure in February over denial of tickets to a few of his supporters in the Mumbai Municipal elections.
After rumours of his resignation started doing the round on Thursday, Kamat took to Twitter and said that he had requested party president Sonia Gandhi and vice-president Rahul Gandhi on last Wednesday to relieve him of all the party responsibilities. He thanked Sonia and Rahul Gandhi for the opportunity given to serve the party. He also tweeted that he had asked the party president to relieve him twice in February.
Kamat had resigned from the party in June 2016 but senior Congress leaders had successfully persuaded him to withdraw his resignation in a week's time then. Ajit Sawant, former general secretary of MPCC and a Kamat supporter said, “Very sadly, Kamat has been a very impulsive politician. He had resigned from the Union cabinet merely because his portfolio was changed. Such impulsive steps has damaged his reputation and party's image.”
He added that Kamat had an excellent opportunity and a task in hand to handle upcoming assembly elections in Gujarat. “He should have ideally proved himself by rising to the occasion. Sulking in isolation with defeated mindset is the worst thing for any politician,” said Ratnakar Mahajan, Congress spokesperson.
Gehlot will now have the tough task to deliver in the upcoming Gujarat assembly elections due by the year end.
