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Who Is Harshwardhan Sapkal, The New Maharashtra Congress Chief?

Congress

Congress’ top brass appointed former party MLA Harshvardhan Sapkal as the president of the Maharashtra Pradesh Congress Committee (MPCC) on Thursday.

After a fiasco in the state polls earlier last year, the Congress party has made organizational changes in Maharashtra. The Grand Old Party has replaced Nana Patole, who was at the helm of the state unit since 2021.

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Congress’ top brass appointed former party MLA Harshvardhan Sapkal as the president of the Maharashtra Pradesh Congress Committee (MPCC) on Thursday.

Who is Harshvardhan Sapkal, a leader who is said to be close to Rahul Gandhi?

57-year-old Sapkal has a challenging task to achieve as he has been given the party’s reigns at a time when the Congress won just 16 seats in the state polls, recording their worst-ever tally. Sapkal, the former MLA from Vidharbha’s Buldhana, is said to be a low-key politician.

Sapkal was a state-level kabaddi player who joined the student wing of the Congress, National Students Union of India, also known as NSUI. Sapkal started his political career as a sarpanch in Buldhana.

In 1999, 27-year-old Sapkal became one of the youngest zilla parishad chiefs of the state.In 2014, Sapkal became MLA for the first time, defeating two-time Shiv Sena MLA Vijayraj Shinde from the Buldhana Assembly seat.

Previous Organisational Experience:

Sapkal has handled organisational work for the Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh Congress and was earlier AICC secretary.

Sapkal currently heads the Rajiv Gandhi Panchayat Raj Sanghatan, an outfit affiliated with Congress that works to empower local self-government bodies.

A senior Congress leader, who wished not to be named, said, speaking to HW News English, that Sakpal was not the first choice for the role and was given the responsibility after many in the organisation denied the offer, citing that it was a hefty financial affair.

Senior Journalist Sudhir Suryawanshi, speaking to HW News English said,
“Rahul Gandhi has considered about ideological commitment rather than the stature of the person while selecting Sapkal.”

“There is a very thin chance that he might leave the party like others did previously; Sapkal may be lowkey, but he is committed to the Nehru-Gadnhi ideology”, he added.

Besides, The Congress also appointed former Leader Of the Opposition Vijay Wadditiwar as its legislative party leader in the state assembly.

Meanwhile, there is no leader of Opposition (LoP) in the Maharashtra Assembly due to the inadequate number of MLAs in the Opposition.

 

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