Months ahead of the Lok Sabha elections, Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge today unveiled the rejigged AICC Secretariat, with the new entrants into the team including Sachin Pilot, Deepa Dasmunshi and G.A. Mir as general secretaries and Ramesh Chennithala and Gurdeep Singh Sappal as in charges.
Senior leaders K.C. Venugopal and Jairam Ramesh continue to be in the team of general secretaries and in charge of their ongoing assignments of Organisation and Communication, respectively. Senior leader Ajay Maken will continue as Treasurer.
Pilot, who was earlier made a member of the Congress Working Committee, has been appointed general secretary and given the charge of Chhattisgarh, where the Congress, against all expectations, lost the Assembly elections recently. The appointment could be an indication that Pilot in all likelihood will not be given a responsibility in Rajasthan.
Priyanka Gandhi Vadra continues to be general secretary, but she has shed the responsibility of Uttar Pradesh, which will now be handled by Avinash Pande, who has been retained as general secretary.
Syed Naseer Hussain has been appointed as in charge of the Congress President's office, while Pranav Jha has been made AICC Secretary attached to the Congress President's office, in charge of Communcation.
Dasmunsi, a new entrant into the team of general secretaries, has been given the charge of Kerala, Lakshadweep and additional charge of Telangana, while Mir gets the charge of Jharkhand and additional charge of West Bengal on his debut as general secretary.
Party veteran and long-time general secretary Mukul Wasnik has been given the charge of Gujarat, while Jitendra Singh continues to be in charge of Assam, also getting the additional charge of Madhya Pradesh, where the party lost recently in the state elections. General Secretary Randeep Singh Surjewala has shed the responsibility of Madhya Pradesh and continues to be in charge of Karnataka.
Dipak Babaria, who was earlier AICC in charge of Delhi and Haryana, has been elevated as general secretary and continues to be in charge of the two states.
Kumari Selja, who was earlier general secretary in charge of Chhattisgarh, now gets the charge of Uttarakhand.
Party veteran from Kerala, Chennithala has been appointed as in charge of Maharashtra. Sappal, a new entrant into the team, will be in charge of Administration. Gujarat leader Bharatsinh Solanki makes an entry into the AICC team as in charge of Jammu and Kashmir. Girish Chodankar is also a new name in the list of AICC in charges. He will look after party affairs in Tripura, Sikkim, Manipur and Nagaland.
Senior leader Mohan Prakash has been made in charge of Bihar, while A Chella Kumar gets the charge of Megalaya, Mizoram and Arunachal Pradesh. He was earlier in charge of Odisha, with additional charge of West Bengal and Andaman and Nicobar Islands.
Ajoy Kumar, who was earlier in charge of the northeastern states of Sikkim, Nagaland and Tripura, has now been given the charge of Odisha, and additional charge of Tamil Nadu and Puducherry.
Rajeev Shukla, who was earlier in charge of Himachal Pradesh, has been given the charge of Chandigarh, too.
Senior leader from Punjab Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa continues to be in charge of party affairs in Rajasthan.
Devender Yadav, who was earlier in charge of Uttarakhand, gets the charge of Punjab, where the party has to tackle the tricky question of whether to enter into an alliance with the ruling Aam Aadmi Party for the coming Lok Sabha elections.
Manikrao Thakre, who was earlier in charge of Telangana, gets the charge of Goa, Daman and Diu and Dadra and Nagar Haveli.
Manickam Tagore, who was in charge of Goa, now gets the charge of Andhra Pradesh, which will go to polls along with the Lok Sabha elections, and Andaman and Nicobar Islands.
Milind Deora and Vijay Inder Singla have been appointed as joint treasurers.
Tariq Anwar makes an exit as general secretary, while Bhakta Charan Das, Harish Chaudhary, Rajani Patil and Manish Chatrath have not been included as in charges in the new team. Chaudhary's exit from the AICC could be an indication of the leader being considered for an important responsibility in his home state Rajasthan.
