Thirty three more secretaries have been appointed in the Gujarat Pradesh Congress Committee (GPCC) to accommodate various factions within the party. When former union minister Bharatsinh Solani had taken over the reigns of the party in March this year, he had gone for a small-size of the party unit in the state. Instead of a jumbo-sized party, he got a small sized unit. [related-post] He had reduced the number of vice presidents from 13 to seven, general secretaries from 31 to 8. He also shortened the list of secretaries from 54 to 22 and spokesperson from eight to five. But party sources said that as party was ridden with factionalism, many groups within the party felt that their supporters did not get proper representation. They reportedly brought pressure on AICC to accommodate their supporters. Sources said that this ultimately resulted in expanding the list of secretaries to 55 by appointing 33 more on Friday. The strength of general secretaries(GS) also went up from nine to 10 as the party had to accommodate Dr. Hemang Patel who was removed from the Rajkot city Congress president owing to ego clash with Rajkot(East) MLA Indranil Rajguru. Former MP Kunwarji Bavaliya as vice-president was replaced by former MP Somabhai Patel as Bavaliya was appointed as Rajkot city Congress president to control the situation in the Rajkot unit of the party after removal of Dr. Hemang Patel. According to sources, a fair number of new secretaries belong to the factions led by former state party chief Arjun Modhwaida, Leader of Opposition in the state assembly Shankersinh Vaghela as also former union minister Dr. Tushar Chaudhary. When questioned about increasing the number of secretaries, GPCC president Bharatsinh Solanki said that the new appointments had to be made keeping view the size of the state and strengthening the party at the grassroots level. "There is nothing unusual in it'', claimed Solanki. The list of party office- bearers is as follows. Vice-presidents(seven): Maulin Vaishnav, sitting MLA Raghavji Patel, former MP Sombhai Patel, Dr. Jitubhai Patel, Dr. Chandrikaben Chudasma, Lakhabhai Bharvad and Mahendrasinh Suratiya. General Secretaries(10) :Dr. Hemang Patel, Nishit Vyas, Narendra Ravat, Lalji Desai, Mihir Shah, Iqbal Patel, sitting MLA Ashvin Kotwal, Jashodaben Parmar, Indravijaysinh Gohil and Dipak Amin. Secretaries: Fifty five Treasurer : Former MP Jivabhai Patel Spokersons : Nishit Vyas, Manish Doshi, Rekha Chaudhary,Himanshu Patel and Kishorsinh Solanki
