New Delhi : Leader of the Opposition and former party chief Rahul Gandhi’s impact was visible on the latest AICC reshuffle announced by Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge on Aug 30.
According to party insiders, the list of AICC secretaries and joint-secretaries announced on Friday saw the induction of several young faces who had been working hard behind the scenes for years and have now been given key party roles at the national level to prepare the Congress for future challenges.
Around 60 percent of the new appointees belong to the SC, ST, OBC communities and reflect Rahul Gandhi’s commitment to push the ‘50 under 50’ rule or having half of all office bearers under the age of 50 years adopted at the Udaipur Chintan Shivir in May 2022, the party insiders said.
The party insiders further said that over the past weeks Rahul held consultations with young leaders from across the country in small groups and discussed with them ways to strengthen the organization.
The latest AICC reshuffle saw both induction of new faces as secretaries and joint secretaries as well as a rejig of the duties that had been assigned to them. Following the changes both Rahul and Kharge will now address the young leaders on Sep 3 to give them a low down of what the party expects from them.
“Many years ago, we got a chance to work at the national level in the party. Now a number of youngsters have been inducted and given important roles in states. Our leader Rahul Gandhi is keen to revamp the organization and this is a step in the right direction,” AICC functionary BM Sandeep told ETV Bharat.
Among some such workers include Szarita Laitphlang, who belongs to Meghalaya and has been working in the various north-eastern states as a fighter. She will now assist AICC in charge Chhattisgarh Sachin Pilot as a secretary.
Subhashini Yadav, who is the daughter of former JD-U leader Sharad Yadav, will now assist AICC in charge Gujarat Mukul Wasnik as secretary. She had been involved with various ‘Save Constitution’ conclaves addressed by Rahul Gandhi across the country over the past months.
Netta D’Souza belongs to Gujarat and her role in projecting Mahila Congress during her tenure as an interim head is appreciated by the party veterans. She will now assist AICC in charge organization KC Venugopal as a secretary along with former NSUI president Neeraj Kundan, who may contest the J&K assembly polls.
Pargat Singh, Punjab MLA and former Indian hockey team captain, will now assist AICC in charge Uttarakhand Kumari Selja as a secretary. Alok Sharma, who had been defending the party stand strongly during various TV debates over the past years as a spokesperson, will now assist AICC in charge Punjab Devender Yadav as a secretary.
Sushant Mishra of Delhi, who had been involved with organising Rahul Gandhi’s tours, will now assist AICC in charge administration Gurdeep Singh Sappal, as a joint secretary. Divya Maderna, former Rajasthan MLA, will now assist AICC in charge J&K and Ladakh Bharat Sinh Solanki as a secretary in the poll-bound UT. Chiranjiv Rao, son of Haryana leader Ajay Yadav and son-in-law of RJD leader Lalu Prasad, will assist AICC in charge Rajasthan SS Randhawa.
Further, the party has appointed Manoj Chauhan and Prafull Gudhadhe to assist AICC in charge Haryana Dipak Babaria; Saptagiri Ulaka and Sirivella Prasad to assist AICC in charge Jharkhand Ghulam Ahmed Mir besides BM Sandeep, Qazi Nizamuddin, Kunal Chaudhary and UB Venkatesh to assist AICC in charge Maharashtra Ramesh Chennithala in the poll-bound states.
Similarly, Danish Abrar and Sukhwinder Singh Danny will assist AICC in charge Delhi Dipak Babaria as secretaries ahead of the 2025 assembly polls.
