Senior Congress leader and former Union minister Prithviraj Chavan on Friday said the party shouldn't have a "puppet president", but one who has been duly elected.

Talking to reporters here, Chavan said the elected president should be assisted by leaders chosen by Congress workers in the forthcoming organizational polls in the functioning of the party.

The former Maharashtra chief minister lamented the party hadn't held organizational polls for the last 24 years. Asked about Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad resigning from the party, Chavan termed the veteran politician's exit as unfortunate.

He said Azad was the party's senior most leader and a secular face.

Chavan, who is part of the 'G23' dissident group that had demanded internal reforms in the organization in a letter to Congress chief Sonia Gandhi in August 2020, said the intention behind the confidential missive was to protect the party's interest and strengthen it, but the signatories were criticized and targeted.

Azad, a former Union minister, was a prominent member of the 'G23' bloc. He said the Congress would make a "historic blunder" if it doesn't come up with a good alternative to Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Chavan said maintaining a status quo in the party is not good for the Congress, which is out of power at the Centre since 2014.

(With PTI Inputs)