After three visits to the city in three months to seek leaders' views on restructuring the Mumbai Regional Congress Committee (MRCC) and other state-related issues, the party's state in-charge general secretary, H K Patil, said on Thursday that it would appoint a new president to the body before the New Year.

Patil was in the city on Wednesday and Thursday and discussed several issues with state leaders, including the city president, apparently in run up to the Mumbai civic polls scheduled next February. "Mumbai will have a new president by December end. The party will be in election (BMC) mode by January," Patil told select media persons.