Rahul names new gen secy, incharges for Odisha, Guj
NEW DELHI: Congress president Rahul Gandhi on Friday made key organisational changes in the party by removing veteran leader Janardan Dwivedi from the general secretary’s post, and handing over the charge of Odisha and Gujarat to young leaders Jitendra Singh and Rajeev Satav respectively.
Former Rajasthan chief minister Ashok Gehlot will replace 72-year-old Dwivedi as the general secretary in charge of organisation and training, said a party press release signed by Dwivedi. The senior leader continues to be a member of the party’s central election committee, a panel that finalises candidates for assembly and Lok Sabha elections.
Gehlot’s appointment, however, does not address the leadership issue in connection with the upcoming Rajasthan polls, party insiders said. “It remains open (the issue of leadership) and the Congress high command will take a final call at an appropriate ti me,” said a Congress leader on the condition of anonymity.
With these changes, Gandhi has set in motion the process of forming his own team and working towards the Congress’ revival ahead of the 2019 Lok Sabha elections.
Having been a general secretary for nearly 14 years, Dwivedi had in August 2014 suggested that party leaders beyond 65 years of age should not hold important organisational posts. He had stirred up a controversy in the run-up to the 2014 Lok Sabha elections by demanding the end of caste-based reservation and bringing financially weaker sections under its ambit. His statement had drawn a sharp response from the then Congress president Sonia Gandhi, who had said that their party would continue to champion the reservation system for SCS, STS and OBCS.
NEW STATE IN CHARGES
In other major shake-ups, 46-year-old former Union minister Jitendra Singh, a key aide of Gandhi was set to replace BK Hariprasad, 63, as party’s Odisha incharge. Hariprasad had offered his resignation soon after the party’s drubbing the state’s panchayat elections last year.
Satav, 44, a former Youth Congress president and Lok Sabha MP from Hingoli in Maharashtra, will replace 66-year-old Gehlot as the party’s pointsman for Gujarat.
Gandhi also removed Mahendra Joshi as the chief organiser of the Seva Dal, a frontal organisation of the Congress, and appointed Gujarat leader Lalji Desai in his place.