Ahmedabad: Rajya Sabha member and former minister Shaktisinh Gohil today took over the office of Gujarat Congress chief at the State party headquarters. Gohil took over the new post on the birthday of party leader Rahul Gandhi.

After the announcement of his appointment as State party chief, Gohil had last week declared that he would formally take over the new office on 18 June after a pad yatra from Sabarmati Gandhi ashram to State party headquarters. However Yesterday it was realized that 18 June was Amaas (no moon day) and therefore the taking over of office was postponed to the next day which was today.

A former minister in the State government in the early 1990s, and also an ex Leader of Opposition in the State assembly, Gohil was a legislator in the past from his hometown Bhavnagar and Abdasa seat in Kutch.  After losing a couple of assembly elections from his native town Bhavnagar and also from the Mandvi seat in the Kutch district, Gohil shifted to national politics and became a Rajya Sabha member. He was also made the party’s national spokesperson and AICC (All India Congress Committee) in-charge for the States of Bihar, Delhi, and lastly Haryana.

Gohil replaces outgoing state party chief Jagdish Thakor. Congress party had last year in the regular election of State assembly in Gujarat received worst ever defeat. Prior to that the party had also lost Rajya Sabha polls, a series of State assembly by-polls, civic and panchayat polls, and all 26 seats in the Lok Sabha election. For Shaktisinh, it is a challenge to rebuild the party ahead of the Lok Sabha general elections next year in the Home-State of Prime Minister Narendrabhai Modi. DeshGujarat