Ahmed Patel is back to being Congress treasurer ahead of 2019 polls

Months ahead of Lok Sabha election-2019, in an important reshuffle, Congress president Rahul Gandhi has appointed Ahmed Patel as the new treasurer of the party on his birthday, replacing Motilal Vora. Additionally, Anand Sharma has been made the chairman of the Congress Foreign Cell. Vora has been appointed as the AICC general secretary (administration), a newly created post and continues to be a key office-bearer of the party.

Rahul Gandhi has also appointed, former Lok Sabha speaker and a Dalit face from Bihar, Meira Kumar as a permanent invitee to the highest decision-making body of the party, Congress Working Committee (CWC). Luizinho Falerio has been appointed as the AICC general secretary in-charge of North East states excluding Assam, replacing Rajasthan leader CP Joshi.

Ahmed Patel, a Rajya Sabha MP from Gujarat, has served as the political secretary to the former Congress president Sonia Gandhi for 17 years and after Sonia Gandhi's term came to an end, he remained a member of the Congress Working Committee (CWC). The 69-year-old Patel was appointed her secretary in 2001.

Known as a pragmatic leader, Ahmed Patel has been widely credited with the party’s performance in the 2004 and 2009 general elections. His appointment as treasurer is seen as an attempt to strike a balance between the old and young leaders in the party, as Rahul Gandhi had mentioned in his speech while taking charge as the Congress president. Earlier too Ahmed Patel had served as the All India Congress Committee (AICC) treasurer from 1996 to 2000.

The induction of Meira Kumar is being viewed as an attempt to woo Dalits in Bihar. Ever since Rahul Gandhi took over as the president of the party, he has appointed several leaders from Dalit and OBC community at top posts.

The CWC, which acts as an advisory panel on all key decisions of the party, has 23 members, 19 permanent invitees and nine special invitees and has as members veterans like AK Antony, Ghulam Nabi Azad, Mallikarjun Kharge, Kumari Selja.

The appointments come a month after Congress president Rahul Gandhi dropped veterans such as Digvijay Singh, Sushilkumar Shinde, Janardhan Dwivedi and CP Joshi from the CWC and replaced them with new faces.