Race for post on Congress state chief begins

Mumbai: Lobbying for the post of Congress’ Maharashtra unit’s chief has begun. Several groups of party functionaries and leaders, who are reportedly against the current Congress state chief Ashok Chavan, have started holding meetings in Mumbai and Delhi.

The Congress’ Maharashtra unit passed a resolution on Wednesday, authorising the Congress president Sonia Gandhi to appoint a new party chief in the state. Leaders like Vilas Muttemwar, Nitin Raut, Balasaheb Thorat and Harshwardhan Patil are trying to get the party’s state president’s post ahead of the Lok Sabha and Assembly elections in 2019. He wants to lead party’s campaign in upcoming Lok Sabha and Assembly elections.

 The appointment of the state chief will be made around December. Congress is holding organisational elections on the national level and elections for state-level posts in the party are part of the process. Mr Chavan, who is currently heading the party in the state, wants to continue in the post.  

But a group of Congress leaders from Vidarbha has complained against him to Congress high command. Also, an overhaul in the Congress party is possible if its vice president Rahul Gandhi takes over as the party president’s post. In that case, Mr Chavan, being one of the senior leaders of the party, could be shifted to All India Congress Committee (AICC) and could be made a general secretary.