Congress goes for social balance in Maharashtra district chief appointments, names 69 office-bearers

The Congress party said on Thursday that it has adopted social engineering in the appointment of district presidents across Maharashtra as part of its ongoing Sanghatan Srujan Abhiyan organisation building campaign, naming 69 office-bearers.In a statement, the party said the All India Congress Committee AICC carried out the appointment process in a detailed and organisational manner across the state.Prafull Gudadhe, an AICC secretary who contested the 2024 assembly elections against Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, has been appointed the chief of the Nagpur city district unit.

The Congress party said on Thursday that it has adopted social engineering in the appointment of district presidents across Maharashtra as part of its ongoing 'Sanghatan Srujan Abhiyan' (organisation building campaign), naming 69 office-bearers.

In a statement, the party said the All India Congress Committee (AICC) carried out the appointment process in a detailed and organisational manner across the state.

Prafull Gudadhe, an AICC secretary who contested the 2024 assembly elections against Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, has been appointed the chief of the Nagpur city district unit. Senior leader Satej Patil is the president of the Kolhapur rural district, and the Nanded rural south district president is Nanded MP Ravindra Chavan.

Prashant Jagtap has been made the Pune city east president.

Senior observers appointed by the party stayed in each district for nearly 10 days and held several discussions before finalising recommendations for district presidents. The recommendations were later approved by AICC president Mallikarjun Kharge, following which appointments of 69 district presidents were officially announced, the statement said.

According to the party, the appointments were made on the basis of social balance, representation of diverse communities, organisational capability, grassroots acceptability and the ability to expand the party base.

The social composition of the newly appointed district presidents includes 24 from the open category, 22 from Other Backward Classes (OBC), seven from minority communities, seven from Scheduled Castes (SC), three from Scheduled Tribes (ST), two from VJNT communities and three women leaders.

The Congress said the appointments reflected an attempt to build an inclusive organisational structure in tune with the social realities of Maharashtra.

It said significant representation had been given to various OBC communities, including Agari, Dhangar, Komti, Koshti, Kunbi, Leva Patil, Lingayat, Mali and Teli groups. Among Scheduled Castes, Buddhist, Matang and Hindu Khatik communities have been represented, while the Muslim community has also been accommodated among minority representatives.

The statement said the average age of the newly appointed district presidents was around 50 years, indicating the party's preference for experienced leaders with strong organisational backgrounds, while also attempting to create opportunities for younger leadership.

Maharashtra Congress president Harshvardhan Sapkal also assigned organisational responsibilities to party observers, who visited talukas and interacted with grassroots workers, local office-bearers and leaders of various frontal organisations and cells to review the organisational structure, the statement said.

Following the exercise, appointments to vacant posts of taluka presidents as well as office-bearers of various departments, fronts and cells have also been initiated, with around 7,000 new office-bearers expected to be appointed across the state, it added.

The Congress said the large-scale organisational restructuring conveyed a message that the party intended to move forward by taking along all sections of society in its future political and organisational battles.