The Gujarat Congress party is planning to exclude the names of its senior leaders Shaktisinh Gohil, Arjun Modhwadia and Siddharth Patel from the prospective candidate list for the coming assembly elections.
The main reason for withdrawing the names of these heavyweights is a decision taken by Rahul Gandhi based on their past electoral performance. Since, Rahul Gandhi has taken over the reins of Congress party election management in Gujarat, the decision to exclude their name was taken by him.
The name of Bharatsinh Solanki, President of Gujarat Pradesh Congress Committee, since December 2015 who is also a part of the candidate selection committee, is also expected to be dropped from the candidate list for the coming elections.
The change in stance is largely due to the detailed analysis conducted by Rahul Gandhi, the Vice President, regarding past election failures of Congress in Gujarat elections. Gandhi has come to realise that most party seniors were repeatedly given tickets even after the party losing all elections since 1990.
A general opinion now is to field more new faces and hand over the campaign and grass-root development and management work to the troika of senior leaders Shaktisinh Gohil, Arjun Modhwadia, and Siddharth Patel. Apart from the three, other senior leaders too would be given special election duties to utilise their experience and influence towards winning more number of seats.
It has also been reported that Bharatsinh Solanki, member of the Gujarat Election candidate selection committee is trying to avail tickets for his old associates, a number of them having lost elections in the past. After a number of complaints reaching the Congress high command, he is expected to be removed from the selection committee. Though no official confirmation on it has been shared by the party.