Haryana Cong in-charge Gohil replaced, Babaria takes charge

Congress prez appointed new chiefs for Gujarat, Haryana, Delhi, Puducherry and Mumbai RCC.

Shktisinh Gohil (left) and Deepak Babaria (right) (File photos)

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The Indian National Congress on Friday removed its Haryana unit in-charge Shaktisinh Gohil, replacing him with senior party leader Deepak Babaria.

Gohil, who was appointed to the post after the ‘unceremonious’ exit of Vivek Bansal around six months ago, has now been named as the Congress’ in-charge of affairs for Gujarat. Babaria, the new in-charge of Haryana and Delhi, will take charge immediately, a statement released by the party said.

“The party appreciates the contributions of outgoing AICC in-charge Shaktisinh Gohil,” reads the orders issued by KC Venugopal, the party’s general secretary in-charge, on Friday.

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Interestingly, Vivek Bansal had been removed from the post of Haryana in-charge in December last year after the Congress suffered a humiliating loss in the Rajya Sabha polls on June 10, despite having adequate numbers. The then Congress MLA Kuldeep Bishnoi’s cross-voting and a wrongly filled up ballot by another Congress MLA had sealed Congress nominee Ajay Maken’s fate, who lost the election to the ruling BJP-JJP-backed Independent candidate Kartikeya Sharma. Gohil was then the chief counting agent for Maken.

Congress President Shri @Kharge has appointed Shri @shaktisinhgohil, Shri V. Vaithilingam and Smt. @VarshaEGaikwad as Presidents of the Gujarat PCC, Puducherry PCC, and Mumbai RCC, respectively, with immediate effect. pic.twitter.com/w6XkC0ARXU

— Congress (@INCIndia) June 9, 2023

The loss, which saw Maken losing out on a Rajya Sabha seat despite the party having had sufficient numbers, had put Bansal’s role under the scanner. He had subsequently been replaced by Gohil in December, even as Bansal had then told The Indian Express that he was made the “scapegoat”.

Gohil’s sudden removal on Friday raised a number of eyebrows. “He [Gohil] was more inclined towards becoming the party president. That is one of the reason he has been shifted to Gujarat as the Congress party president of Gujarat. That too is an extremely vital assignment,” a senior Congress leader told The Indian Express.

Party sources disclosed that certain leaders from within the Haryana Congress unit were also not happy with Gohil’s style of functioning and considered him as a close aide of CLP leader and former chief minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda.

Even in the six months since Gohil had been the party affairs in-charge of Haryana, he had not been able to make the party’s cadre at the ground level – an exercise that has been pending for over more than last eight years.

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