Pune: Senior Congress leader and former Deputy Mayor of Pune city Aba Bagul has been appointed as the Leader of the Party in the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC). He has replaced Arvind Shinde after the party decided to bring change in guard in the PMC almost two years before.

Bagul is a five-term corporator. He has been appointed as Leader of Party in Congress for the second time. In his long stint with the party, Bagul has enjoyed the perks of being President of the Standing Committee and Deputy Mayor while the Congress was ruling the PMC a few years back.

Arvind Shinde was the party leader of Congress in PMC for eight years. The party had decided to replace Shinde two years back. The Maharashtra State Congress Committee had sought a report from the MLA, MLC, senior leaders and former and sitting members about the change in leadership.

The decision was pending even after the report was submitted to the Committee. Meanwhile, Shinde also contested the general elections in 2019 when the party discussed to relieve him from the PMC post but the decision was deferred again. Finally, Bagul was officially given the responsibility of Leader of Party on Monday (June 22).