In generational shift, Congress makes Amit Chavda, 42, Gujarat chief

Chaudhary said that Chavda’s selection was in consonance with Rahul Gandhi’s announcement at the recently concluded Congress Plenary Session where he had said that he will give chance to young leaders to lead the party. “The party will benefit from Chavda in the forthcoming Lok Sabha elections in 2019,” said Chaudhary. He also denied that he was in the race for the top position in the Gujarat unit of the Congress. “None of the senior Congress leaders were in the race for the top job. As for myself, I was never in the race to become the GPCC chief,” Chaudhary said.

Meanwhile, soon after Chavda’s name was announced, vice-president of the state unit Maulin Vaishnav resigned from his post. In a letter to Rahul Gandhi, Vaishnav said, “I am resigning from the post of vice-president to enable the new president to select his team.” Welcoming the appointment of Chavda as state party president, he later told mediapersons: “I am grateful that Rahulji has chosen a young and dynamic party president for the state. It is common practice that a new president forms a new team. Thus, to make him comfortable in choosing his own team, I have tendered my resignation.”

Chavda, who is currently the chief whip of the party in the Assembly, is the grandson of former MP Ishwarbhai Chavda who was elected to the Lok Sabha for five times from Anand. Chavda is also related to the outgoing GPCC president Bharatsinh Solanki. Chavda, who holds a diploma in chemical engineering from MS University, made his debut as an MLA in 2004 when he won the Assembly by-election from Borsad in Anand district. He won from Borsad again in 2007. Subsequently, he won from Anklav, also in Anand district, in the last two Assembly elections.

According to party leaders, the high command kept in mind the caste calculations while picking up Chavda for the top job. While Chavda comes from the Kshatriya OBC community, an influential group among the OBC with the largest share of voters, CLP leader Dhanani belongs to the Patidar community, the most politically influential community in the state.

The party has also balanced the regional representation. While Dhanani hails from Saurashtra which has sent the maximum number of Congress MLAs to the Assembly this time, Chavda, on the other hand, comes from the central region.

Chavda, who was in Delhi today, could not be contacted despite several efforts.