Buoyed by the victory of its senior leader Ahmed Patel in the historic Rajya Sabha elections conducted last month, the Congress party has come into election mode in Gujarat and has decided to form the Pradesh Election Committee (PEC) to expedite selection process of candidate for the Assembly polls to be held in December 2017.
Terming the upcoming Gujarat polls as crucial, former Rajasthan Chief Minister and Gujarat Congress in-charge Ashok Gehlot indicated once PEC forms, the party would kick-start selection of candidates for all 182 Assembly constituencies.
Just like previous three Assembly polls in the State, the oldest political outfit in the country has decided not to announce Chief Ministerial candidate ahead of the polls. According to Gehlot, no one would be projected as CM candidate as focus of the party was to win the election first and would allow legislature party to choose its leader.
Earlier, Gujarat Pradesh Congress Committee (GPCC) had announced to allot ticket to sitting MlAs. However, resignation of 14 out of 57 sitting Congress MlAs in connection with the closely contested elections of three Rajya Sabha seats from the State has completely changed the game plan of the Opposition party.
Meanwhile, All India Congress Committee (AICC) named former Union Minister Tushar Chaudhary, Amreli MlA Paresh Dhanani, Kuvarji Bavalia and Karasandas Soneri as working presidents of GPCC on Friday. Apparently the move to name four additional presidents is in view of the ensuing Assembly polls keeping the caste equations in mind.
Chudhary and Soneri are from tribal and Dalit communities, while Dhanani and Bavalia are from Patidar and Koli communities respectively. These four communities form almost 60 per cent of the Gujarat’s population. Current GPCC president Bharatsinh Solanki belongs to OBC Kshtriya Community.
It is worth mentioning that the Congress party had made massive expansion in Gujarat Congress organisation by announcing over 100 additional office-bearers and executive committee members for Gujarat Pradesh Congress Committee (GPCC). The grand old party also formed five committees related to upcoming assembly polls. Moreover the Congress high-command named 13 presidents of district and city Congress committees on the same day. The party has also made conscious efforts to balance geographical representation during the selection of additional office bearers apart from caste equations.