Rahul changes incharges of Bihar and Uttarakhand

NEW DELHI: Congress president Rahul Gandhi on Monday divested party general secretaries Ambika Soni and CP Joshi of their charge of Bihar and Uttarakhand respectively.

While senior leader from Gujarat Shaktisinh Gohil, 57, will look after the party’s affairs in Bihar, former Uttar Pradesh legislator Anugrah Narayan Singh, 66, has been given the charge of Uttarakhand.

Joshi, 67, considered close to Gandhi, still holds charge of nine states — Assam, West Bengal, Tripura, Meghalaya, Nagaland, Sikkim, Mizoram, Arunachal Pradesh and Manipur apart from the Andaman and Nicobar Islands. He had faced flak for the Congress party’s repeated electoral drubbings in the Northeast.

Soni, 74, will continue to be the party general secretary incharge of Jammu and Kashmir. She had requested the Congress high command last year to relieve her of the charge of Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand due to health reasons.

During her tenure as incharge of Uttarakhand, Ambika Soni had taken the help of colleague Kumari Selja in running the party affairs during the assembly elections in February-march last year.

On Saturday, Gandhi had appointed young leaders Chandan Yadav and Yashomati Thakur as party secretaries.

Yadav will assist PL Punia in Chhattisgarh and Thakur, a legislator from Maharashtra, will help general secretary KC Venugopal in running the party affairs in Karnataka.

SHAKTISINH GOHIL, 57, WILL TAKE CHARGE OF BIHAR AND FORMER UP LEGISLATOR ANUGRAH NARAYAN SINGH, 66, WILL LOOK AFTER UTTARAKHAND