Gujarat Congress Faces Fresh Row Over Cancellation of Banaskantha DCC Office-Bearers’ List

Banaskantha: Internal differences within the Gujarat Congress have come to the fore once again, with the party’s state leadership cancelling the newly announced office-bearers’ list of the Banaskantha District Congress Committee (DCC). The move has triggered fresh tension between Banaskantha DCC president and former MLA Gulabsinh Rajput and the Gujarat Pradesh Congress Committee (GPCC).

The GPCC, in a statement issued on Monday, said Gujarat Congress president Amit Chavda had directed that the appointments announced for the Banaskantha DCC be cancelled with immediate effect. According to the state unit, the list released by Rajput had not received approval from the GPCC.

Rajput had announced the new organisational structure of the Banaskantha DCC on September 11, naming office-bearers for various posts, including vice-presidents, general secretaries, secretaries, treasurer, spokespersons, office secretary and members of the executive committee. The list included a large number of party workers and leaders and was subsequently circulated on social media.

In its statement, the Gujarat Congress said the appointments could not be treated as valid since the list had not been approved by the state leadership. It also pointed out that Banaskantha and Vav-Tharad have now been bifurcated into separate organisational districts, and said the process of appointing office-bearers for the two districts would be completed shortly.

The cancellation has, however, exposed differences over the manner in which the Congress’s ongoing organisational restructuring is being carried out.

Rajput questioned the decision, saying the Banaskantha DCC had been awaiting its organisational structure for nearly nine months. He said the Sangathan Srijan Abhiyan was intended to give greater importance to district presidents in organisational matters.

He also maintained that the Congress organisation in Banaskantha had been consistently taking on the BJP and claimed that the party was stronger in the district than in several other parts of Gujarat.

The disagreement became more visible after Rajput posted a cryptic message on social media following the cancellation of the list. Without naming anyone, he said that the Congress’s fight should be against the BJP and not against its own people. The remark was widely seen as a criticism of the state leadership’s decision.

Meanwhile, District Congress vice-president Mukesh Chauhan alleged that the list had been released without taking the GPCC into confidence. He further claimed that the document did not carry the state Congress office’s seal or date and alleged that Rajput had formed the committee arbitrarily, giving positions to people close to him.

In the latest development, Rajput has alleged that certain Congress leaders were being taken to meetings with BJP leaders and claimed that individuals allegedly involved in such activities were being protected. He said he would reveal the names of those involved in the coming days and put the entire matter before the public.

In a video statement, Rajput said, “I am going to make full disclosures in the coming days. The people who are causing damage to the party, the people who made deals with the BJP to defeat the party in Banaskantha Lok Sabha and Patan Lok Sabha, what were those deals, what bargains did they make, and who had their children recruited into banks, I will bring all of this out with evidence and proof in the coming days. I am not alone in this.”

“If such mindsets are operating in Banaskantha just to harm Geniben Thakor, we will never tolerate it. When only a single Member of Parliament has been elected from here, and work is being done to cause them this much damage, then even as the district president, I do not have to put up with it,” Rajput further said.

The latest controversy comes amid the Congress’s broader organisational restructuring in Gujarat under the Sangathan Srijan Abhiyan, through which district presidents were selected through a consultative process involving party observers and workers. The restructuring was aimed at strengthening district-level organisations and giving DCCs a greater role in organisational appointments in consultation with the state leadership.

The Banaskantha episode now raises questions over coordination between the district and state leadership at a time when the Congress is attempting to rebuild its organisation in Gujarat. DeshGujarat