Chavda-Dhanani tussle takes toll on Gujarat Congress

The Gujarat Congress has a pressing problem to tackle ahead of the Lok Sabha elections –– to set its house in order.
Although the party released a gigantic list of 401 office-bearers on Monday, the simmering factions’ interests have hardly been assuaged. The Congress President’s penchant for GeNext leaders has also left many of the seniors fuming. Gujarat Pradesh Congress Committee (GPCC) president Amit Chavda and leader of the opposition Paresh Dhanani, both 41, have not been on the same page and their differences have started affecting the party’s work at the grassroots.

Chavda, a cousin of former GPCC president Bharatsinh Solanki, and Dhanani, a young Patidar leader from Saurashtra, are completely different in nature and style. “This is going on for long and has badly affected our presence on the ground,” said a senior party functionary, who requested anonymity. “Both leaders have different styles of functioning and those are not in sync. There is an obvious clash of egos that has left workers at the grassroots demoralised,” said the source. As a result, the party has not been able to implement many of the programmes announced in the state satisfactorily. “For example, the party was supposed to carry out a door-to-door outreach programme and raise funds, which has not been properly implemented and it ended in a fiasco,” he added. Another senior leader ET spoke to admitted that the matter had reached Rahul Gandhi, who has spoken to both the leaders asking them to resolve their differences.

“After the state elections in 2017, Gujarat had slipped off the priority list with elections across other states,” said a senior party man. “But that has not really helped and now we have an uphill task to reset the house in order before the Lok Sabha electioneering gathers steam,” he added.