Gurudas Kamat quits Congress after Gujarat snub

Mumbai/New Delhi: On the day the party was routed in the Delhi civic polls, senior Congress leader and former minister Gurudas Kamat has, once again, turned in his resignation. The veteran leader had last attempted to resign from the party in February 2017, as he had objections over the working style of Mumbai Congress chief Sanjay Nirupam. This time, however, it’s the party high command’s decision to appoint former Rajasthan chief minister Ashok Gehlot and MP Rajiv Satav as members of a team that will take decisions in poll-bound Gujarat that seems to have sparked his latest resignation. Mr Kamat, who is in charge of Gujarat Congress, had been preparing the party for the elections there.

Mr Kamat made his decision to quit all party posts public through a press release on Wednesday. It reads, “I welcome the decision to give charge of Gujarat to Shri Ashok Gehlot and four other AICC general secretaries… I had met Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi last week on Wednesday and discussed that I should be relieved of all responsibilities.”

The Congress has not reacted to his resignation yet. On Wednesday, Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi decided to hand over Gujarat’s affairs to the party’s team that was responsible for its victory in the Punjab Assembly polls. Mr Gehlot was leading the AICC team along with Mr Satav, Meenakshi Natrajan and others. Sources in the party revealed that Mr Gehlot replaced Mr Kamat, as the party high command considered him a “better strategist and an election manager”. Some in the party also maintained that Mr Gehlot was “closer” to the Congress president than Mr Kamat.

While Mr Kamat claimed on Wednesday that he repeatedly “urged” the party high command to be relieved of his responsibilities, only a week back he was in Ahmedabad preparing for the Assembly elections scheduled to be held at the end of the year.

Mr Kamat is known to take such sudden steps. He had earlier refused to take the oath of office and returned to Mumbai over portfolio issues during the UPA 2 regime. However, Mr Kamat’s loyalty towards the Gandhi family has always worked in his favour and party never took any action against him.

A senior leader from Congress said on the condition of anonymity, “Mr Kamat should understand that Mr Gandhi is very serious about the Gujarat elections this time. That’s why he has appointed these people in Gujarat. For the sake of his political future, he should take this decision sportingly.”