Party leaders & functionaries pin blame on Siddharth Patel for the loss of face in elections.
The angst in Gujarat Congress following the severe they received in corporation polls was expected, but the intensity was rather shocking.
As Bharatsinh Solanki was held responsible for the poor show in Assembly elections, incumbent Gujarat Pradesh Congress Committee (GPCC) president Siddharth Patel has been squarely blamed by party leaders and functionaries for the loss of face.
To this effect, focused activity has started by lobbyists in the party to replace Patel with immediate effect.
The names doing the rounds to take the coveted post in place of Patel is mainly Shankersinh Vaghela, Arjun Modhwadia and Madhusudan Mistry - all senior Congress leaders currently on the fringes. As a consensus on the new leader cannot be arrived at so quickly, another set of buzz doing the rounds is that of a "working president atleast" with immediate effect — as early as first week of November after the AICC meeting on November 2.
The names floating down the power corridors as plausible working president are those of Jagdish Thakore and Mukesh Gadhvi, or perhaps Tushar Chaudhary.
Sources in the party candidly conceded that supporters of each leader have made representations to the high command in the last week, especially since Ahmed Patel was in Bharuch for a few days to campaign for panchayat polls.
Rebellion threatened to spill out in the open on Friday when a sharp message seeking 'shuddhikaran (cleansing)' of Congress meet in evening went out. However, leaders who had called the meeting themselves did not turn up for the meet.
Originally the plan was to dethrone four people who were responsible for distribution of tickets in civic body elections. "Our aim is to remove Janta Dal people from key posts and bring back original Congress people," said the worker.
However, something went wrong and leaders ended up discussing EVM issues at Pankaj Shah's office at Shahpur.
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