New Delhi : The Congress on Monday appointed former union minister Kumari Selja as general secretary in-charge of Chhattisgarh, while former Punjab minister Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa and Rajya Sabha MP Shaktisinh Gohil were given charge of Rajasthan and Haryana, respectively.
Selja replaces P L Punia, while Randhawa replaces Ajay Maken in Rajasthan and Gohil comes in place of Vivek Bansal as in-charge of Haryana. The changes come ahead of assembly elections in Chhattisgarh and Rajasthan due next year. Both the states are currently ruled by the Congress where the party units are ridden with factionalism and leadership wars.
Both Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh have Congress governments and will go to the polls next year, months before the Lok Sabha election in 2024. Kharge also appointed Shaktisinh Gohil as the party incharge of Haryana in addition to his responsibilities in Delhi. Randhawa has been made a member of the party's steering committee, which has replaced the Congress Working Committee (CWC) till the party's plenary.
The Congress president has also appointed Gurdeep Singh Sappal as incharge of administration. He is attached to party treasurer Pawan Kumar Bansal. The changes have been made a day after a meeting of the streering committee. Maken had earlier stepped down as in-charge of the party in Rajasthan. Maken, who had taken exception to action of some loyalists of Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot ahead of a scheduled meeting of legislators which could not take place in October, had conveyed his views to the party leadership.
Maken had gone to Rajasthan as Gehlot was the prime contender for the post of party president in the presidential elections and the CLP meeting was to be held to choose his successor. Kharge was eventually chosen as the party chief. The new incharges of Chhattisgarh and Rajasthan are expected to draw strategies for next year's assembly elections.
Haryana will go the poll in 2024 and the Congress is sensing a chance to come back to power in the state after the results of recent panchayat polls.", "Selja is a former Haryana Congress chief. A Congress release said the party appreciates the contributions of Ajay Maken, PL Punia, and Vivek Bansal and relieves them from their current responsibilities.
"Congress president has made these appointments in the All India Congress Committee with immediate effect," said an official communication from the party. The order also said that the Congress president has appointed Gurdeep Singh Sappal as in-charge, administration, attached with Pawan Kumar Bansal. Former Union minister Bansal is currently the party's treasurer and also held the charge of administration.
