From CK Nayak
NEW DELHI, Dec 23: In a major but delayed reshuffle, Congress party on Saturday announced changes in appointment of in-charges of several states including Meghalaya in view of the coming Lok Sabha polls replacing Dr Manish Chatrath with Dr A Chellakumar for Meghalaya.
Dr A Chellakumar, former All-India Congress Committee (AICC) in-charge for Odisha, will also remain in charge of Arunachal Pradesh and Mizoram. Known only as a doctor, he is a senior MP from Tamil Nadu but the party lost all elections in Lok Sabha, Assembly and bypolls during his tenure in the coastal state.
The party, in a statement, also confirmed that Priyanka Gandhi Vadra has been relieved of the duty of the general secretary in-charge of Uttar Pradesh but she will continue to be a general secretary, without any assigned portfolio. Among other changes former Rajasthan deputy chief minister Sachin Pilot is now AICC in-charge of Chhattisgarh.
In Uttar Pradesh, Gandhi Vadra has been replaced by Avishek Pande as the general secretary in-charge of India’s most populous state. The Gandhi scion was given the charge of Uttar Pradesh in 2019, months before the previous Lok Sabha elections. Since then, however, the Congress has been reduced to only 1 parliament segment and two Assembly seats in the state.
Senior Congress leader Randeep Singh Surjewala has been designated as the Karnataka in-charge, while veteran Mukul Vasnik who was once in charge of Meghalaya has been handed responsibility for Gujarat. Congress leader Deepa Dasmunshi has been appointed as the General Secretary of Kerala, Lakshadweep and Telangana, whereas, Ghulam Ahmed Mir has been appointed as the General Secretary of Jharkhand and given additional charge of West Bengal.
Senior leaders Jairam Ramesh, KC Venugopal, Mukul Wasnik and Randeep Singh Surjewala remain the general secretary in-charges of communication, organisation, Gujarat and Karnataka, respectively. According to the statement, Deepak Babaria is in charge of Delhi and Haryana, while Jitendra Singh, the general secretary in charge of Assam, was assigned the additional task of Madhya Pradesh.
Ajay Makan is the Treasurer of the party.