He said he is 'more than satisfied' with his long political career as a five-time Lok Sabha MP, three time Union minister and chief minister for 10 years.
Surjewala made the case for state-specific alliances while arguing for a larger coalition with like-minded parties in 'national interest'.
The 71-year-old MP may have time to pursue her other interests, but many believe that she will continue to play the role of a mentor.
The new party president, the sixth member of the Nehru-Gandhi family to lead the political outfit, takes charge from his mother Sonia Gandhi at a time when the party is facing one of its worst crises, with the Bharatiya Janata Party occupying the centre stage of national and state politics.
The Congress scion will step into his mother Sonia Gandhi's shoes as the party president next week.
He alleged that the Congress was 'deceiving' the people over the issue of reservation, while the agitators were lining up for poll tickets.
'The BJP's target could be the Kolis, Thakors and other numerically strong OBC communities to negate the shift of the Patel vote bank.'
Smartly blending its development agenda with Hindutva politics, the BJP has not lost assembly elections in the state since 1995.
The BJP took a dig at Gandhi, saying the Congress vice president was visiting temples as his party has failed to win elections in the state for long time.
Gandhi said if the Congress was voted to power, his party's government would function from Gujarat and not on orders from Delhi.
Kovind may bag over 62 per cent votes but fall short of the 69 per cent votes polled by incumbent Pranab Mukherjee in 2012.
Going by precedence, the 15th presidential election scheduled to be held on July 17 this year will see a contest, notwithstanding the frenetic political confabulations for a consensus candidate.
He also said that it was up to Sonia Gandhi whether she will continue as party chief for another term.
India on Friday said Bhutan and its security is "intricately interlinked" and it is important for the two neighbours to be sensitive to each other's concerns, as President Pranab Mukherjee held wide-ranging talks with the Bhutanese leadership.
Bharatiya Janata Party leader Arun Jaitley faces a tough electoral battle in his maiden bid to enter Lok Sabha from Amritsar but is unfazed by his "reluctant" heavyweight opponent Capt Amarinder Singh as he claims the groundswell against Congress "adds to my confidence".
Candidates for the forthcoming Lok Sabha polls will be able to spend more on their campaign with the Election Commission considering raising the expenditure cap up to Rs 70 lakh per contestant from Rs 40 lakh now.
On the positive front, India continued its polio-free run for the second consecutive year and inched closer to polio free status in 2014.
Battle lines have been drawn for Sunday's poll for the 68-member Himachal Pradesh assembly where political heavyweights Prem Kumar Dhumal and Virbhadra Singh are jostling for the attention of voters, for whom the issue of price rise and corruption seems to have surpassed the anti-incumbency factor.
In the chronically underdeveloped Shimla Rural segment from where charismatic state Congress chief Virbhadra Singh is fighting elections, corruption appears to be a non-issue after the five-time former Himachal chief minister was hit by graft allegations.
Gujarat is likely to witness a triangular fight in this year's assembly polls, as dissident Bharatiya Janata Party leaders -- opposed to Chief Minister Narendra Modi and led by former chief minister Keshubhai Patel -- are set to float their own party.
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