Fresh blood in Congress leadership

The Congress has just appointed Sachin Pilot, former deputy chief minister of Rajasthan, as the general secretary in charge of Chhattisgarh. Avinash Pande takes up the equivalent role for Uttar Pradesh. The duo replace Kumari Selja and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra respectively.

Priyanka Gandhi Vadra will now be a general secretary "without any assigned portfolio", according to a statement issued by the Congress, while Selja moves to take charge of Uttarakhand.

The appointments come two days after a meeting of the Congress Working Committee (CWC), the party's highest decision-making body, which was chaired by Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge and attended by other senior leaders, including Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi.

Congress leader G.A. Mir will be the general secretary in charge of Jharkhand, with the additional charge of West Bengal. Deepa Dasmunshi has been appointed the general secretary of Kerala and Lakshadweep with the additional charge of Telangana.

Senior leaders Jairam Ramesh, K.C. Venugopal, Mukul Wasnik and Randeep Singh Surjewala remain the general secretary in charge of communication, organisation, Gujarat and Karnataka, respectively.

Jitendra Singh, who is the general secretary in charge of Assam, has been given additional charge of Madhya Pradesh, while Deepak Babaria holds the charge of Delhi and the additional charge of Haryana.

In addition, Congress MP Dr Syed Naseer Hussain will be in charge of the Congress President's Office, while Pranav Jha as AICC (All India Congress Committee) secretary will also remain attached to the Congress President's Office, as in-charge of communication.

With inputs from PTI