New Delhi : Two days after the Congress Working Committee (CWC) meeting, the Congress announced significant organizational changes, including the removal of Priyanka Gandhi Vadra as the party’s Uttar Pradesh chief, in a significant reorganization ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.
However, the Congress said in a statement that Priyanka Gandhi will remain the party’s general secretary without being given a specific portfolio.
Former deputy chief minister of Rajasthan Sachin Pilot has been named by the Congress as the leader of the Chhattisgarh Congress, while senior Keralan party leader Ramesh Chennithala has been named as the leader of the Maharashtra Congress.
Earlier in the year, Priyanka Gandhi resigned from her position as the Uttar Pradesh Congress chief. But the party had remained silent about the matter.
Priyanka Gandhi has been replaced by Avinash Pande, who will now be the party in-charge of Uttar Pradesh.
The key appointments were announced just two days after a meeting of the CWC, which was chaired by Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge and attended by senior leaders, including Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi. Meanwhile, senior party leaders Jairam Ramesh, KC Venugopal and others.
Mukul Wasnik and Randeep Singh Surjewala remain the general secretaries in-charge of communication, organisation, Gujarat and Karnataka, respectively.
Jitendra Singh, who is the general secretary in-charge of Assam, was given the additional charge of Madhya Pradesh, while Deepak Babaria holds the charge of Delhi and the additional charge of Haryana, the statement said.
Party leaders said that the move to relieve Priyanka Gandhi of her responsibilities in Uttar Pradesh comes amid speculations that the opposition bloc INDIA may field a strong candidate against Prime Minister Narendra Modi from Varanasi in the general election.
During the INDIA bloc meeting, some leaders had suggested fielding Priyanka Gandhi against PM Modi.
Even in 2019, a similar demand had gained momentum.
The party also named Deepa Dasmunshi as the incharge of Kerala, Lakshadweep and additional charge of Telanagna, while Kumari Selja who was incharge of Chhattisgarh has been given the charge of Uttarakhand.
Meanwhile, Ajoy Kumar has been tasked with the role of in-charge of Odisha, and given additional charge of Tamil Nadu and Puducherry.
The party has made Mohan Prakash the in-charge of Bihar, while Manikrao Thakare who was in-charge of Telangana, has now been given the charge of Goa, Daman and Diu and Dadra and Nagar Haveli.
The party has also replaced Goa in-charge Manickam Tagore by giving him charge of Andhra Pradesh and Andaman and Nicobar Islands.
The party has appointed Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa as the chief minister of Rajasthan and Devender Yadav as the chief minister of Punjab.
The party also nominated Bharatsinh Solanki to succeed Rajni Patil as the chief minister of Jammu and Kashmir.
Rajeev Shukla has also been kept on as the person in charge of Chandigarh and Himachal Pradesh.
A. Chellakumar has been designated by the party to oversee Meghalaya, Mizoram, and Arunachal Pradesh.
The Congress President also named Pranav Jha as the AICC Secretary, attached to the Congress President’s Office, In-charge of Communication, and Syed Naseer Hussain, MP, CWC Member, as In-Charge of the Congress President’s Office, effective immediately.
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