The Gujarat unit of the Congress on Sunday urged the party's national leadership to make Rahul Gandhi the president of the Grand Old Party.
The demand was made close on the heels of the Congress units in Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh, the only two states where the party is in government on its own, passing resolutions that Rahul Gandhi be made the party head. In Gujarat, the demand was made at the party's state executive committee meeting held here, where all its members supported the proposal with a round of applause.
"The members of the Gujarat executive committee, who gathered at a meeting here, expressed their feelings that Gandhi be made the president of the Indian National Congress. They wanted this point to be presented before the national leadership," the party's state unit chief spokesperson Manish Doshi said. In a statement issued later, the party said, "It was demanded (during the meeting) that respected Rahul Gandhi, who is the future of India and the voice of the youth, be made the president of the Indian National Congress. To this, all the delegates of the state executive present there showed their approval with a thunderous applause."
The development comes ahead of the start of filing of nominations for the election of the Congress president. The Rajasthan Pradesh Congress Committee had on Saturday unanimously passed a resolution for making Rahul Gandhi the party's national president, while the Chhattisgarh Pradesh Congress Committee (CPCC) passed a similar resolution on Sunday.
The Congress had last month said the election for its president would be held on October 17. The result will be declared on October 19. If only one candidate is left in the fray after the withdrawal of nominations, the name of the president will be declared on October 8 itself. Meanwhile, Doshi said that the party's Gujarat unit also passed a resolution authorising the party's interim president Sonia Gandhi for the formation of Gujarat Congress executive body.
The Gujarat unit also resolved to win 125 out of the total 182 Assembly seats in the upcoming state election under the leadership of state Congress president Jagdish Thakor. The elections in the Bharatiya Janata Party-ruled state are slated to be held by the end of this year. Talking to reporters, Thakor said, the state unit chalked out a campaign plan that includes distributing 1.5 crore pamphlets containing eight promises made by Rahul Gandhi and four-point failures of the BJP government.
A resolution giving powers to Sonia Gandhi for the formation of the Gujarat Pradesh organisation was also unanimously passed, he said. "A total 1.55 crore 'citizen's rights pamphlets' targeting 300 houses in each booth will be distributed between September 24 and 26 by Congress workers and leaders and the entire organisation across 52,000 booths. The pamphlets will comprise promises made by Rahul Gandhi and highlight the failure of the present BJP government on four points," he said.
In a statement, the party said that its state unit has also chalked out day-today programmes till Diwali to highlight the failure of the ruling BJP "that has led to inflation, unemployment, clumsy administration, corruption, ruined economy". The party will also support groups that have been agitating against the government. The dates of rallies with 75 motorcycles will be fixed in each taluka for mass public relations. Various programmes will also be decided during the nine days of Navratri to offer prayers to the Goddess, it said.
The party also decided to make arrangements for accommodation for the agitators who have gathered in state capital Gandhinagar from all parts of Gujarat to press for their demands from the government, it said. Quarters of Congress MLAs will be made available for them, it said.
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