Kharge on Saturday made the first major reshuffle in the organization during his tenure. Before the Lok Sabha elections in 2024, the team of Congress National President Mallikarjun Kharge has been announced. Kharge did not experiment like the BJP in forming his new team. He gave preference to mostly experienced leaders instead of new faces. Through this reshuffle, Kharge is attempting to win the Lok Sabha Election in 2024 and holding tight to his position in the Congress.
Reshuffles done by Kharge
While Priyanka Gandhi has been relieved of UP and made the General Secretary without charge, Sachin Pilot has been made the General Secretary and appointed in-charge of Chhattisgarh. Once again making changes in Madhya Pradesh, General Secretary Jitendra Singh has been given additional charge of Assam along with it. Due to the reshuffle, five leaders including Tariq Anwar and Harish Chaudhary have been removed from posts in the organization.
The party which is preparing for the Lok Sabha elections is strengthening its organization. During the reshuffle, the party seems to be setting aside things like the Udaipur resolution to avoid new experiments. However, the party has made three women general secretaries out of 12 general secretaries. Apart from this, to remove the ongoing discrepancy between North and South, 7 General Secretaries have been taken from the Hindi belt states of North India.
Priyanka Gandhi Vadara: General Secretary without charge, a hidden message given by Kharge
The party intends to utilize Priyanka Gandhi for organizational decisions and publicity across the country rather than limiting her to one state by keeping her as General Secretary with no responsibility. The party can also make her contest the Lok Sabha elections in Uttar Pradesh. These may be the hidden messages.
One more hidden message some political experts may understand. Everyone in politics is ambitious, Kharge may not be an exemption. A proposal by Mamta Banerjee may have given a boost.
Sachin Pilot: Finally stepped into national politics
Differences between Ashok Gehlot and former Deputy Chief Minister Sachin Pilot in Rajasthan are well known. After Gehlot refused to accept the presidential post and join national politics it was a confusing state for the congress party. The party doesn’t want to lose anyone of them. Sachin Pilot’s political career growth in Rajasthan state was restricted. Probably this may be the reason for giving responsibility to Sachin in national politics. Finally, Pilot has stepped into national politics.
Although Pilot has campaigned in many states as a star campaigner, he has now formally got the responsibility of Chhattisgarh state. The challenge before him is to end the factionalism of Chhattisgarh. Moreover, he has to ensure victory in the Lok Sabha elections in 2024.
Jitendra Singh: Trust remains intact
The party’s trust in Rajasthan’s Jitendra Singh remains intact. He has been made the General Secretary in charge of Assam. Along with this, an additional charge of Madhya Pradesh has been given to him by Kharge.
Avinash Pandey’s stature increased again
Avinash Pandey of Maharashtra is among the experienced leaders of the organization. While he was in charge, Congress returned to power in Rajasthan in 2019. Instead of being in charge of Jharkhand, he has now been sent to Uttar Pradesh in place of Priyanka as general secretary.
Deepa Dasmunshi-Female face
Deepa Dasmunshi has been made the additional general secretary in charge of Telangana along with Kerala-Lakshadweep. Dasmunshi can emerge as the new female face of the party.
Ghulam Mir and Nasir Hussain: New Muslim Faces
Ghulam Ahmed Mir of Jammu and Kashmir has been made the General Secretary and given the additional charge of West Bengal along with Jharkhand. Karnataka’s Rajya Sabha MP Nasir Hussain has been made in charge of the Congress President’s office. These two leaders can be big Muslim faces of the party in the coming days.
Venugopal, Jairam, and Wasnik are retained by Kharge
KC Venugopal has been retained as the organization’s general secretary. Similarly, Jairam Ramesh is in charge of communication and Mukul Wasnik is in charge of Gujarat. Whereas Deepak Babaria has been retained with the additional charge of Haryana along with Delhi.
Surjewala returned from MP and Selja’s state changed.
After the crushing defeat in Madhya Pradesh, the additional charge of Madhya Pradesh has been withdrawn from Randeep Surjewala. Now he has been kept as General Secretary in charge of Karnataka only. Similarly, after losing Chhattisgarh, Kumari Selja is been sent to Uttarakhand.
Two joint treasurers are appointed along with Treasurer Maken.
Ajay Maken will remain the treasurer. Whereas Milind Deora and Vijay Inder Singla have been appointed to the post of Joint Treasurer.
Those who are been removed may be accommodated elsewhere.
Tariq Anwar and Bhakta Charan Das, are been removed from the post of party general secretary. They have been asked to start preparing to contest the Lok Sabha elections. Similarly, Harish Chaudhary can be given important responsibility in Rajasthan. Apart from these, Rajni Patil and Manish Chatrath have been removed from the in-charge of the states.
General Secretary – Incharge
General Secretary Name | State Incharge |
Priyanka Gandhi | Without Portfolio |
Mukul Wasnik | Gujrat |
Jitendra Singh | Assam (additional charge Madhya Pradesh) |
Randeep Surjewala | Karnataka |
Deepak Bawariya | Delhi (additional charge Haryana) |
Sachin Pilot | Chhattisgarh |
Avinash Pandey | Uttar Pradesh |
Kumari Selja | Uttarakhand |
Gulam Ahmed Mir | Jharkhand (additional charge West Bengal) |
Deepa Dasmunshi | Kerala, Lakshadweep (extra charge Telangana) |
Jairam Ramesh | Communications |
KC Venugopal | Organization |
State in charge
Name | States |
Ramesh Chennithala | Maharastra |
Mohan Prakash | Bihar |
Dr Chelakumar | Meghalaya, Mizoram, Arunachal Pradesh |
Ajay Kumar | Odisha (Extra charge Tamil Nadu, Puducherry) |
Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa | Rajasthan |
Bharat Singh Solanki | Jammu-Kashmir |
Rajeev Shukla | Himachal Pradesh, Chandigarh |
Devendra Yadav | Punjab |
Manikrao Thakor | Goa, Daman Diu, Dadra Nagar Haveli |
Gurdeep Singh Sappal | Administration |
Girish Chodankar | Tripura, Sikkim, Manipur, Nagaland |
Manickam Tagore | Andhra Pradesh, Andaman Nicobar |
Sum up
Through all these reshuffles Kharge has made his team for winning the Lok Sabha Election going to be held in 2024. Moreover, if he succeeds may be thinking of gaining the prime minister post.