Priyanka to leave UP Congress leadership for national role: Reports

Priyanka Gandhi Vadra is likely to step down as the general secretary of the Congress's Uttar Pradesh unit to take up a greater national role as the 2024 Lok Sabha elections are approaching, per reports. The grand old party is also planning to appoint new heads of its state units as four state Assembly elections are slated for later this year.

Why does this story matter?

• Recent sweeping victories in Himachal Pradesh and Karnataka have revitalized the Congress, dampening the Bharatiya Janata Party's (BJP) call for a "Congress-mukt Bharat" or Congress-free India.
• The Congress is now focusing on elections in Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh, and Telangana, which will be followed by the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, in which it hopes to unseat the juggernaut, that is the BJP.

CWC to be reshuffled

The reports said the state party units of Tamil Nadu, Delhi, West Bengal, Gujarat, Maharashtra, and Jharkhand might soon get new chiefs. It was reported earlier that Rajasthan could get a revamped Congress committee amid the infighting between Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot and his former deputy Sachin Pilot. Meanwhile, the Congress Working Committee (CWC), the party's highest decision-making body, will also likely be rejigged.

Set of names already decided for positions: Report

The organizational reshuffle is expected to be completed within a few weeks. The reports claimed that a set of names had already been decided for the new positions, and the final call rests with Rahul Gandhi and party president Mallikarjun Kharge. Deepender Singh Hooda, Bhanwar Jitendra Singh, Tariq Anwar, and Harish Rawat are said to be the probable replacements for Priyanka in UP.

Priyanka, Rahul led Congress to victory in Himachal, Karnataka: Leaders

The reports quoted senior Congress leaders as saying that Priyanka shouldn't confine herself to UP. They said that she and Rahul campaigned in Himachal Pradesh and Karnataka, "which led to the party's victory." After Rahul's disqualification from the Lok Sabha in April, speculations were rife about Priyanka contesting from Wayanad as the brother-sister duo visited the former's erstwhile constituency in Kerala.