Headlines
Congress appoints new state chiefs
New Delhi, March 2
Congress on Monday effected
an organisational reshuffle bringing in new faces in four states and a
union territory, ahead of a possible elevation of the party's
vice-president Rahul Gandhi as Congress chief.
With the new
appointments approved by party president Sonia Gandhi, former union
minister Ajay Maken has been brought in as party chief in Delhi, where
the party failed to even open its account in the assembly polls held
last month.
Former state minister Ghulam Ahmed Mir has been
appointed party chief in Jammu and Kashmir and former union minister
Bharatsinh Solanki made head of the party in Gujarat.
In Maharashtra, the party has replace Manikrao Thackeray with former chief minister Ashok Chavan.
Uttam
Reddy, a former Andhra Pradesh minister, will head the party in
Telangana. Mallu Bhatti Vikramarka, a legislator, has been appointed
working president of the state unit.
Former Congress member of parliament Sanjay Nirupam has been made chief of the Mumbai regional Congress committee.
The
changes are also being seen to have an imprint of Rahul Gandhi, who has
been pushing for performance-oriented system in the party.
The
young leader is on "leave" to reflect and chart a future course of
action of the party. Speculations are rife in the party about his being
elevated to the post of party chief in next month's session of All India
Congress Committee.
Meanwhile, Maken's name had been doing the rounds for last few days for heading the party's Delhi unit.
Maken,
who heads the communications department of the Congress at present, is
credited with making the party more social-media savvy.
Though
Maken was projected as the face of party's campaign in Delhi and lost
even his own election from Sadar Bazar constituency, he is seen to be
articulate and a organisational man with a grassroots connect.
The
Congress had finished fourth in Jammu and Kashmir assembly elections in
February and the change of guard in the state was seen as imminent. Mir
has replaced Saffidun Soz as state unit chief in the state.
In
Gujarat, the party had failed to open its account in the Lok Sabha polls
last year and Solanki will have a hard task to revive the party's
fortunes in the home state of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
In
Maharashtra, Chavan replaced Manikrao Thakre, who headed the party for
seven years and Nirupam took over from Dalit leader Janardhan
Chandurkar, who headed the Mumbai Regional Congress Committee for two
years.
The party is also keen to revive its support base in Telangana, which had been party's stronghold once.