Major reshuffle in Congress ahead of polls

In a major organisational reshuffle in the core committee of the Congress party ahead of the general elections, the party president has changed the responsibilities of nine general secretaries and 38 secretaries.

Showing full confidence in the former Jammu & Kashmir chief minister Ghulam Nabi Azad, Sonia Gandhi reinstated him as general secretary and given the responsibility of four states – Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Pondicherry and Orissa.

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Ajay Maken, who was in-charge of Jharkhand and Orissa, and Kishore Chandra Deo (programme monitoring) have been divested of the responsibility as they are contesting the Parliamentary elections.

M Veerappa Moily will continue to work as the party in-charge of Andhra Pradesh and Assam, and Digvijay Singh as in-charge of Uttar Pradesh.

The work allocation of nine general secretaries has also been changed.

Rahul Gandhi will continue with the Youth Congress and NSUI. Janardan Dwivedi will continue to look after Organization along with additional charges like organizational election, training and programme co-ordination.

Prithviraj Chavan, who was divested of the responsibility of Karnataka, has been retained as AICC general secretary in-charge of Jammu and Kashmir and has been assigned the charge of Haryana as well.

B K Hariprasad has been given the additional responsibility of Madhya Pradesh together with Gujarat, while Mukul Wasnik will take care of party affairs in Delhi and Rajasthan.

Former chief minister of Maharashtra, Vilas Rao Deshmukh, Goa Chief Minister

Luizinho Faleiro and former Andhra Pradesh PCC Chief K Keshav Rao have been made permanent invitees to CWC. Anticipating tough fight in the BJP’s stronghold Karnataka, M Mallikarjun Kharge has been inducted into the CWC.

Senior party leader A K Antony will continue as in-charge of Maharashtra, while R K Dhawan has been given the responsibility of Uttarakhand. Congress treasurer Moti Lal Vora has been assigned another responsibility as party in-charge of administration.

Senior Congress leader Margaret Alva, who was removed from her position as general secretary following her allegations on the functioning of the Congress party pertaining to the cash for vote scandal, has been made a member of the screening committee.

Mohsina Kidwai, now the only woman general secretary who has been handling the charge of Kerala and West Bengal, has also been assigned Punjab, Himachal Pradesh, Chandigarh, Lakshadweep and Mahila Congress.

Former Home Minister Shivraj Patil, who bore the brunt of Mumbai terror attacks last year, has been made the chairman of the screening committee of Arunachal Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Nagaland and Tripura.