By IANS,
Mumbai : Dalit leader Janardan C. Chandurkar was appointed the new president of Mumbai Regional Congress Committee Thursday, party office-bearers said here.
A three-time legislator and former deputy speaker of Maharashtra legislative assembly, Chandurkar, 68, will replace Kripashankar Singh, who quit under a cloud of corruption allegations.
Lawyer-turned-professor-cum-politician Chandurkar told IANS: “I am happy to be given this responsibility. I shall chart out my future programme after consulting my party colleagues soon.”
The former chairman of Maharashtra Housing and Area Development Authority, Chandurkar will be the Dalit face of the city Congress in next year’s Lok Sabha and assembly elections.
Chandurkar’s name was proposed a couple of months ago by Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan to Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi for the post.
Credited with securing increased housing space for slum-dwellers, Chandurkar lives in Andheri suburb of north Mumbai with his family.