The Congress on Saturday appointed Ashok Jagtap as Mumbai Congress president and Charan Singh Sapra as working president.
Jagtap succeeds veteran leader Eknath Gaikwad, who was the acting president after Milind Deora quit following the party’s defeat in 2019 Lok Sabha elections.
Ashok Jagtap, who is known as Bhai Jagtap in political circles, is a trade union leader and former legislator. Sapra, on the other hand, started his innings with the party as a student leader.
The faction ridden party was without a full time president since Deora quit the post.
HK Patil, party’s in charge of Maharashtra, had recently held discussions with city and state leaders on selection of the new city unit chief to revive the party organisation ahead of 2022 Mumbai civic polls. Earlier this week, all key Mumbai Congress leaders were summoned to Delhi by Congress top brass to discuss the issue. Following it, Jagtap and Sapra’s appointment was announced.
A senior party leader said the leadership decided to appoint a Marathi face as Mumbai unit head.
The party leadership has also tried to accommodate different factions within the party by appointing their leaders in key positions. Mohammad Arif Naseem Khan will head the campaign committee while Amarjit Singh Manhans will head coordination committee. Suresh Shetty has been appointed head of manifesto and publication committee. Khan, Manhans and Shetty were aspirants for the city unit chief’s post.
“Our priority is to rejuvenate the party organisation in Mumbai and ensure that the party wins forthcoming Mumbai civic polls,” said Sapra.
