Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge on Saturday removed Bhupesh Baghel as the general secretary in-charge of the poll-bound Punjab, replacing him with former Rajasthan deputy chief minister Sachin Pilot.
Venugopal has announced that two general secretaries Jitendra Singh and party veteran Ramesh Chennithala have been dropped in the latest reshuffle. Tamil Nadu Congress president Manickam Tagore, who was in charge of Andhra Pradesh, has also been dropped.
“I express my gratitude to the Congress President, the esteemed Shri@kharge ji, CPP Chairperson Smt. Sonia Gandhi ji, and the Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha Shri @RahulGandhi ji for assigning me the responsibility of Punjab in-charge. The elections to be held in the state in the coming days are an important opportunity for us. Our goal and resolve is to move forward with complete dedication and loyalty and to bring the party to power. I am confident that through collective efforts, a strong organization, and the hard work of the workers, we will strengthen the Congress in Punjab once again and pave the way for a return to power,” Pilot wrote on X.
In September 2021, the Congress had forced then Punjab chief minister Captain Amrinder Singh to resign and elevated Channi to the post before the polls in 2022. He served as Rajasthan Pradesh Congress Committee president from 2014 to 2020 and was deputy chief minister from 2018 to 2020. As PCC chief, he led the Congress campaign in Rajasthan after the party’s poor performance in the 2013 assembly elections and remained at the centre of the party’s organisational revival that culminated in its victory in the 2018 polls.
A total of three general secretaries have been allotted new states while another three leaders got dropped, according to a press release issued by party general secretary (organisation) KC Venugopal . The Congress, according to two insiders, “rewarded” Surjewala by bringing him to Gujarat while he will continue to hold “additional responsibility as in-charge of Karnataka”. “His immediate task is likely to be less about organisational restructuring and more about ensuring that the competing factions work together on Rahul Gandhi’s proposed Punjab programme and the party’s election preparations,” said a Congress leader.
