The Congress today appointed former Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot as its general secretary in-charge for Gujarat, as part of the party's revamp ahead of Assembly Polls later this year.
Gehlot replaced Gurudas Kamat who has handled the party's affairs in the state till now. Kamat has had issues within the party in Maharashtra after the Congress' debacle in the state civic polls and has been vocal on issues.
The Congress has revamped the entire team in Gujarat by replacing the general secretary in-charge and appointing four new secretaries.
"Congress President Sonia Gandhi has assigned the task of looking after Gujarat affairs to a new AICC team that includes general secretary in-charge Ashok Gehlot and four new AICC secretaries," AICC general secretary Janardan Dwivedi said.
The four new AICC secretaries appointed for Gujarat affairs are, former Youth Congress chief Rajeev Satav, Harshvardhan Sapkal, Varsha Gaikwad and Jeetu Patwari.
At the AICC briefing, party spokesperson Ajoy Kumar hoped that under the charge of Gehlot, the Congress would leap to victory in Gujarat.
"We have full faith that the Congress will perform well in Gujarat and we will form the government there," he said.
Kamat later said in a statement that he welcomed the decision and thanked the party leadership for giving him an opportunity to serve the party, saying he had asked them to relieve him of all responsibilities.
"I welcome the decision of Congress to give charge of Gujarat to Ashok Gehlot, former Rajasthan chief minister and four AICC secretaries.
"Had asked Congress Vice President to relieve me on February 3, the day Congress' list of candidates was declared in Mumbai, again requested him on February 21, day of polling in Mumbai.
"I followed up my request to party Vice President Rahul Gandhi with a letter to Congress President Sonia Gandhi after the Mumbai election results," he said.
Kamat also said that he had met Rahul last week and asked to be relieved.
The Congress is working overtime to get its act together and put up a stiff fight to the BJP in Gujarat, the home state of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Assembly elections in Gujarat are due in November.
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