Hardik Patel, Jignesh Mevani Meet Rahul Gandhi Over Gujarat Unit Chief Selection

Both, the party state unit president and Leader of Opposition posts have been vacant for the past six months.

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi with Gujarat PCC leaders during a meeting, in New Delhi.

(Photo: PTI)

Gujarat Congress working president Hardik Patel and independent MLA Jignesh Mevani met Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Friday, 22 October, over the selection of the new Gujarat Pradesh Congress Committee (GPCC) president and Leader of Opposition (LoP) ahead of the 2022 Gujarat Vidhan Sabha polls.

Both the posts have been lying vacant for the past six months after interim president Amit Chavda and interim LoP Paresh Dhanani had submitted their resignations.

After the meeting, Patel was quoted as saying, “We had a meeting with Rahul ji after which we are now going to Patna to rally for Kanhaiya Kumar and our party for the upcoming bypolls. Soon, we will be sharing details of the outcome of the meeting,” Indian Express reported.

A delegation of 15 senior Congress leaders had arrived in Delhi from Ahmedabad on Thursday evening.

The leaders included Amit Chavda, Shaktisinh Gohil, Paresh Dhanani, Hardik Patel, Arjun Modhwadia, Naran Rathva, Siddharth Patel, Tushar Chaudhary, Gyasuddin Shaikh and Jignesh Mevani.

Later on Friday, Kanhaiya Kumar, Patel and Mevani reached Patna to campaign for the bypolls and received a grand welcome.

Kanhaiya Kumar, Jignesh Mevani and Hardik Patel at at Jai Prakash Narayan Airport in Patna.

(Photo: PTI)

Meanwhile, Gandhi is said to be having a one-on-one meeting with the senior leaders to chart out future course of action and to discuss the factions within the Gujarat party unit.

For the post of the GPCC president, while some leaders support the 61-year-old Shaktisinh Gohil, other leaders support 28-year-old Hardik Patel, the current working president of GPCC.

(With inputs from The Indian Express.)