With Rahul out, his appointees get the boot

New Delhi: With Rahul Gandhi quitting as Congress President, the prodigal son’s appointees in the party are also on their way out.
With Sonia Gandhi back as interim Congress chief, so is her coterie. Needless to say, for that, appointees of Rahul have been shown the door. Divya Spandana, whose proximity to Rahul is well known, has already submitted her resignation and now, a new head of the party’s social media team is to be appointed.
After the drubbing in the general election, Spandana has already suspended her social media accounts. She was extremely vocal on issues Rahul raised. With her resignation, senior party leader K.C. Venugopal has asked the leadership to hunt for a new social media head. One name that is doing the round is of Nikhil Alva.
What’s interesting is Alva had public disagreements with Spandana in the Congress’ WhatsApp group multiple times. Many Congress insiders say, this is because of the school of thought they both come from. Another name doing the rounds for the post of party spokesperson is Pawan Khera who is known to be close to Sonia Gandhi.
Apart from that another department that was the brain child of Rahul – the data analytics department – lies in complete disarray. While many have resigned, its head Praveen Chakravarti too has been openly criticised by many Congress leaders.
The department is blamed for harming the Congress more than doing any good with its data. Its this department that was responsible for Rahul raising the Rafale deal issue over and over again. Chakravarti’s team suggested their data showed people are buying the narrative while in reality it hardly cut any ice with the electorate.
Now, another Rahul appointee Haryana Congress chief Ashok Tanwar too is on his way out. Former Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda met Sonia Gandhi recently in Delhi and his name is also being considered for the post.
After the poll debacle, Rahul took the blame for it and resigned. After month-long theatrics of leaders requesting him to stay back while he remained adamant on quitting, finally Sonia Gandhi again became interim chief of the party. But with new appointments comes a new team. (IANS)