Balasaheb Thorat Replaces Ashok Chavan As Cong Maharashtra Chief

The appointment was said to be made by the ‘Congress President’ but doesn’t mention who the president is.

Newly appointed President of the Maharashtra Congress, Balasaheb Thorat.

(Photo: Facebook/Balasaheb Thorat)

The Congress on Saturday, 13 July, appointed Balasaheb Thorat as its new president for the state of Maharashtra. Thorat will replace veteran leader Ashok Chavan.

As a part of organisational changes that the party made before the upcoming assembly elections in the state, the senior leadership also appointed five working presidents- Nitin Raut, Baswaraj M Patil, Vishwajeet Kadam, Yashomati Chandrakant Thakur and Muzaffer Hussain.

KC Padavi has been appointed the leader of the legislative party. Former president of the Maharashtra Congress, Ashok Chavan, had tendered his resignation in May.

Significantly, the order by the party said the the “Hon’ble Congress President” had approved the proposal for the organisational changes, but did not mention Rahul Gandhi.

Rahul Gandhi had resigned from his post as president of the Congress party after the party’s resounding defeat in the Lok Sabha Elections 2019. However, the Congress Working Committee (CWC) had refused to accept his resignation. Gandhi had advised the CWC to begin proceedings to elect the next president.

According to the constitution of the party, the senior most general secretary is to be appointed as the working president till the election of a new president. However, the party has not made any such formal appointments yet.