Ahead of the assembly elections in Gujarat, the state Congress tried to energize its cadre in Surat through fresh appointments, however, raising the question whether the changes are effective enough.
Hasmukh Desai was appointed as the head of its unit in Surat and four working presidents of the city Congress Committee were also inducted. This is the first time in the history of Surat Congress and the state party that four working presidents have been appointed in the city.
The new working presidents are Bhupendra Solanki, Ashok Pinpale, Firoz Malik and Deep Nayak.
Raju Saluke, a senior journalist based in Surat, says, “This shows that the party is on the verge in the city and the workers have lost faith and confidence in its leadership.”
The Congress party does not have a mass and aggressive leader in Surat. “Just to accommodate the four warring groups, the party may have appointed four working presidents, but will they be able to restore the party’s image and build trust among voters and workers?” Saluk said.
Once a Congress strength, Surat was conquered by the BJP in 1990. Since then the party has been performing poorly in every election, be it civic polls, assembly or Lok Sabha. The party has no representative in Surat Municipal Corporation and from here in the state assembly.
As per the Election Commission records, the last MLA of the Congress party was elected from Surat North, West and Choryasi constituencies in 1985 elections and the last MLA from Surat East seat was elected in 2002. After delimitation in 2009, the city has 12 seats. Earlier rural seats like Olpad and Kamarez are now part of the city, eight more seats were carved out – Varachha Road, Karanj, Limbayat, Udhna, Majura, Katargam. Since 2012 till now all 12 seats are with BJP.
Newly-appointed city president Hasmukh Desai admits, “It is a hard fact that the Congress is actually in very bad shape in the city, but with four working presidents, the party has tried to do social engineering. Desai is a Patidar, Bhupendra Solanki is a Dalit and native Surti, Deep Nayak is an Anavil Brahmin, upper caste from South Gujarat, Ashok Pinpale is a Marathi from Khandesh region of Maharashtra and Firoz Malek represents the minority.
Desai points out that these castes/communities have a good number of voters, who dominate at least two to three assembly seats. This will help build the party base to win seats and start from scratch.
Working president Bhupendra Solanki said, “The biggest drawback for the party is that its leaders have lost contact with the workers as well as the voters, which will be addressed, and added, “I and the new team are the old stalwarts and the party.” workers who are inactive. This time it will be personal meetings, no telephone contact, it will be party building again. Strengthening the party is the only solution and we will do it.
Solanki and Desai are confident that the new strategy will work for the party and this time the party will bounce back and win assembly seats.
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