After days of speculation, the Gujarat unit of the Congress got a new chief in Amit Chavda, who replaced incumbent Bharatsinh Solanki. The appointment was made by Congress president Rahul Gandhi.
Chavda, an MLA from Anklav in central Gujarat, is a distant relative of Solanki. Chavda's grandfather Ishwarbhai Chavda was a five-time Congress MP from Anand and father-in-law of former Gujarat chief minister Madhavsinh Solanki. Bharatsinh Solanki is Madhavsinh's son.
He is also the party's whip in the state assembly—a post he is likely to vacate following Tuesday's developments, according to party sources.
In appointing Chavda, Gandhi has reposed faith in young blood and struck a balance between Patidars and the OBCs. Gandhi, expectedly, appointed Paresh Dhanani, a Patidar leader from Amreli, the opposition leader despite the presence of other senior contenders for the post.
Chavda, 42, is a four-time MLA and has a degree in chemical engineering. He is from the OBC community.
Ever since the assembly elections in December 2017, there were rumours that Solanki was planning to resign. The rumours gained strength after the Rajya Sabha nominations, although Solanki clarified that he isn't unhappy with the snub. It is believed that Solanki might be asked to contest Lok Sabha elections in 2019 from Anand.
Chavda, who has a strong political background, faces the challenging task of upping the party's fortunes in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls.
In the last parliamentary elections, the Congress drew a blank, with the BJP sweeping all the 26 seats. This time around, the Congress is hopeful of putting up a better show as it succeeded in restricting the BJP to a tally of 99 in the 2017 assembly elections.
Chavda told a section of media that there would be a change in the party's organisational structure after discussions with the party leaders.
He urged the youth to join the grand old party and expressed confidence that the Congress would put up a good show in the next general elections.
Grapevine has it that senior leaders like Shaktisinh Gohil, Tushar Chaudhary, Siddharth Patel and Arjun Modhwadia were not considered for the post as they had lost the assembly elections. Besides, Gandhi wanted to appoint a young leader as the party chief.
Following Chavda's appointment, state Congress vice president Maulin Vaishnav resigned to make way for a reshuffle in the party's organisational structure.