Priyanka Gandhi Vadra is now a Congress general secretary “without any assignment portfolio” while Sachin Pilot will be the general secretary in-charge of Chhattisgarh as part of a major organisational reshuffle that Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge carried out on Saturday.
Ms. Vadra was in charge of Uttar Pradesh earlier.
The much-awaited reshuffle displays a sense of urgency in the run-up to the 2024 Lok Sabha poll and comes just two days after a meeting of the Congress Working Committee (CWC), the party’s highest decision-making body.
During Thursday’s meeting, senior members such as Mukul Wasnik raised the issue of long-pending organisational restructuring. Though Mr. Kharge reconstituted the CWC on August 20, responsibilities were not reassigned for four months.
In the reshuffle, new faces have been brought in and organisational responsibilities have been re-assigned among the veterans. However, K.C. Venugopal will continue as the general secretary (organisation), while Jairam Ramesh will remain as the head of party’s communication.
Precursor to election
Senior leader Avinash Pande has been given the charge of Uttar Pradesh, replacing Ms. Vadra. Her designation as a general secretary without portfolio has given rise to speculation that she could take the electoral plunge in the 2024 poll as she will not restricted to handling any particular State.
Kumari Selja, who has been repalced by Mr. Pilot, will now handle Uttarakhand, while Deepa Dasmunshi has been appointed the general secretary of Kerala and Lakshadweep with additional charge of Telangana.
Congress leader from Jammu and Kashmir, Ghulam Ahmed Mir, has been made general secretary in-charge of Jharkhand with the additional charge of West Bengal.
The responsibility of handling Madhya Pradesh has been given to Jitendra Singh in addition to Assam, while Randeep Surjewala, who was handling both Madhya Pradesh and Karnataka, will now focus only on Karnataka.
Senior leader Ramesh Chennithala has been made in-charge of Maharashtra, Mohan Prakash will look after Bihar, Dr. Ajoy Kumar will handle Odisha in addition to Tamil Nadu and Puducherry, and Mr. Wasnik will be the general secretary in-charge of Gujarat.
Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa has been retained as the in-charge for Rajasthan. Party veteran Bharatsinh Solanki has been made the in-charge of Jammu and Kashmir, while Girish Chodankar has been given the charge of north-eastern States of Sikkim, Tripura, Manipur and Nagaland.
Manickam Tagore is the in-charge of Andhra Pradesh, while Manik Rao Thakre has been moved from Telangana to Goa. Devender Yadav has been given the charge of Punjab, while Deepak Babaria will take care of Delhi and Haryana.
Dropped leaders
Among those who have been dropped include Tariq Anwar, Bhakta Charan Das, Rajni Patil, Harish Chaudhary and Manish Chatrath.
Mr. Kharge appointed Rajya Sabha member Syed Naseer Hussain as the in-charge of the Congress president’s office, while AICC secretary Pranav Jha will be in-charge of communication.
Milind Deora and Vijay Inder Singla have been appointed joint treasurers, who will work with treasurer Ajay Maken.
