The Congress on Saturday announced the name of Paresh Dhanani, a Patidar leader, as leader of opposition in the Gujarat assembly. The announcement was made from New Delhi.
This is for the first time that a Patidar leader has been made opposition leader by the Congress.
Forty-one-year-old Dhanani, who represents Amreli from Saurashtra, is known for raising farmers' issues.
The Congress leadership had taken the opinion of 77 MLAs for two days before taking the decision and making the announcement. Senior Congress leader Kunwarji Bavalia was also in contention.
Dhanani is a giant killer and has in the past defeated senior leaders of the BJP.
The Congress made massive gains in the Saurashtra in the recently held assembly elections. They got 77 out of the total 182 seats while the BJP's strength reduced to two figure—99.
This has been the Congress' best performance since 1985, when it got 149 seats.
The BJP wanted to emulate the performance of 1985 and had set a target of 150 seats for itself.
