Congress appoints Surjewala as in-charge of poll-bound MP
New Delhi: In a major organisational shake-up, the Congress on Thursday appointed Randeep Surjewala as general secretary in-charge of poll-bound Madhya Pradesh and former MLA Ajai Rai as the chief of the party’s Uttar Pradesh unit. Surjewala will continue to be the in-charge of Karnataka – the state that scripted mammoth victory in the recently concluded state assembly elections.
Besides, Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge appointed Mukul Wasnik as general secretary in-charge of Gujarat by replacing Raghu Sharma.
Surjewala, who is the in-charge of Karnataka, has been given the additional charge of Madhya Pradesh by replacing Jai Prakash Agarwal.
Kharge appointed Rai, who had unsuccessfully contested against Prime Minister Narendra Modi from Varanasi in the 2014 and 2019 Lok Sabha polls, as the president of the Uttar Pradesh Congress Committee, with immediate effect. Rai has been appointed UP Congress chief by replacing Dalit leader Brijlal Khabri.
“The party appreciates the contribution of the outgoing PCC president Brijlal Khabri, ex-MP, and all the zonal presidents,” the party said in a statement issued by general secretary organisation KC Venugopal.
Surjewala was recently appointed as a senior election observer by the party in Madhya Pradesh which goes to polls later this year.
An organisational overhaul of several state units of the Congress is underway and more appointments are likely to be made in the coming days.
Earlier, Surjewala was appointed as senior observer of poll-bound Madhya Pradesh.
Notably, Brijlal Khabri, a former Lok Sabha member, was appointed as the president of Uttar Pradesh Congress unit in October 2022. Khabri, a Dalit leader, had replaced Ajay Kumar Lallu, who had resigned in March 2022 after the party’s disastrous performance in the state assembly election.
Khabri, who was elected to the Lok Sabha from Jalaun in Bundelkhand region in the 1999 polls on a BSP ticket, had joined Congress in 2016 alleging sale of tickets in the BSP.
