Changes in Cong: Pilot made Raj chief, Arun given charge of MP

Update: 2014-01-14 23:42 GMT
The appointment of the young faces as state chiefs is in line with Rahul Gandhi’s long-term plans to rebuild the party in states and both the leaders are expected to be put in the states for a long haul.

Both Pilot and Yadav belong to the OBC community, which Congress has not been able to reach out in a big way in the Hindi heartland so far.

While the 36-year-old minister for corporate affairs is a close associate of party vice president Rahul Gandhi and is the son of late union minister Rajesh Pilot, 39-year-old Yadav is son of senior party leader Subhash Yadav, who was at one time the deputy chief minister of Madhya Pradesh.

The two young leaders have been entrusted the party responsibility in crucial states at a time Congress is on a downturn. While Madhya Pradesh has 29 Lok Sabha seats, Rajasthan has 25 seats.

While the party led by chief minister Ashok Gehlot lost power in Rajasthan in this assembly elections, it repeated its third consecutive defeat in Madhya Pradesh where Shivraj Singh Chouhan-led BJP government scored a hattrick.

In both states, Congress recorded its worst-ever performance. While it could secure just 21 out of the 200 assembly seats in the desert state, it got only 58 seats in Madhya Pradesh in worst ever-performance in last three assembly elections elections.

Pilot replaces Chandrabhan, who was defeated in the assembly polls while Yadav replaces Kantilal Bhuria, the former Tribal Affairs Minister.

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