In organisational rejig, Sonia Gandhi drops Ghulam Nabi Azad as AICC general secretary

Senior Congress leader and former J&K chief minister Ghulam Nabi Azad was dropped as the party’s general secretary in a major organisational reshuffle by interim president Sonia Gandhi in All India Congress Committee (AICC), announced on September 11.

Azad was the senior-most leader among the 23 dissenters who had last month written a letter to Sonia Gandhi seeking changes in the party leadership.

Vivek Bansal has replaced Azad as general secretary in-charge of Haryana. Motilal Vohra, Ambika Soni, Mallikarjun Kharge and Luizinho Falerio are the other general secretaries dropped in the overhaul.

“The party whole-heartedly appreciates the contribution of outgoing general secretaries Ghulam Nabi Azad, Motilal Vohra, Ambika Soni, Mallikarjun Kharge and Luizinho Falerio,” the Congress said in a statement.

The reshuffle comes days after Sonia Gandhi offered to resign during the Congress Working Committee (CWC) meeting on August 24, after 23 leaders, including Azad, sent her a letter seeking an overall in the party's leadership. The meeting, however, decided to continue Sonia Gandhi as interim president until an election is conducted for the party’s president post within six months.

The AICC media in-charge Randeep Singh Surjewala has been inducted in the high-power six-member special committee that will advise the Congress president in organisational and operational matters decided in the party’s working committee meeting on August 24. AK Antony, Ahmed Patel, Ambika Soni, KC Venugopal and Mukul Wasnik are the other members of the panel.

Sources said the reshuffle was an indication towards promoting loyalists of Rahul Gandhi, who is, according to them, set to be the next Congress president again.

Surjewala has also been appointed as AICC general secretary of Karnataka, while Rajeev Shukla has been appointed as the in-charge of Himachal Pradesh. Former Union minister Ajay Maken is the new Congress in-charge of Rajasthan. Maken was a prominent face during the recent crisis in the Congress government in Rajasthan.

Jitin Prasada, also one of the dissenters, has been made in-charge of the party in poll-bound West Bengal and Andaman Nicobar Islands.

Former Uttarakhand chief minister Harish Rawat will be general secretary in-charge for Punjab, while former Union minister Pawan Kumar Bansal has been made AICC in-charge of administration.

Tariq Anwar is now in-charge for Kerala and Lakshadweep, while Jitendra Singh is in-charge of Assam.

Oommen Chandy is the new in-charge for Andhra Pradesh, as per the new appointments.

Former minister Anwar had left the Congress, along with Sharad Pawar and PA Sangma, and floated the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) during a similar leadership crisis in the party in 1999. He, however, returned to the party before 2019 general elections.

Among other decisions, Sonia Gandhi also reconstituted the CWC and the Central Election Authority of the AICC. P Chidambaram, Jitendra Singh, Tariq Anwar and Randeep Singh Surjewala have been made regular CWC members. Azad continues to be a CWC member.

Madhusudan Mistry, Rajesh Mishra, Krishna Byre Gowde, S Jothimani and Arvinder Singh Lovely are the members of the new Central Election Authority.