MP Gaurav Gogoi, 35, the son of former Assam chief minister Tarun Gogoi, will now serve as the in-charge of West Bengal and Andaman & Nicobar, although without holding the post of general secretary.
New Delhi: The Congress Sunday made two major changes in its organisational set-up, divesting general secretaries C.P. Joshi and Digvijaya Singh of the charge of West Bengal and Andaman and Nicobar Islands, and Andhra Pradesh, respectively.
MP Gaurav Gogoi, 35, the son of former Assam chief minister Tarun Gogoi, will now serve as the in-charge of West Bengal and Andaman & Nicobar, although without holding the post of general secretary. It has been an endeavour of Congress president Rahul Gandhi lately to empower young leaders by making them state in-charges, though not as general secretaries.
Meanwhile, former Kerala chief minister Oommen Chandy, appointed a general secretary Sunday, will take over as the Congress in-charge for Andhra Pradesh from Digivijaya.
According to party sources, former Madhya Pradesh chief minister Digvijaya had himself sought the shift so he could focus on Madhya Pradesh, where assembly elections are due later this year. Accepting his request, the party had made him the chief of the party’s co-ordination committee in the state on 22 May.
Singh’s main job in his home state would be to bring the warring factions together. He is set to start a month-long Madhya Pradesh tour from 30 May during which he will meet party leaders across the state and request them to work together during the election.
Joshi, who until recently held the charge of 10 states (eight northeastern states, West Bengal and Bihar, besides Andaman & Nicobar), had faced criticism within the party over his “lackadaisical attitude towards work” as the Congress lost several states on his watch.
In Bihar, as he left the party for the JD(U), former state Congress president Ashok Choudhary had accused Joshi of not being serious about his job. “He would come to Patna on an afternoon flight and leave for Delhi by evening. He was never on the ground,” Choudhary had told ThePrint in March this year after the party’s Tripura debacle.
In April, Gujarat leader Shaktisinh Gohil replaced Joshi as the in-charge for Bihar, and sources said new faces are likely to take on his role in the northeastern states.
After taking charge as Congress president in December last year, Rahul announced several changes in the organisation and the process will likely continue in the coming months, with the party president also yet to appoint a new Congress Working Committee.
Congress should have to rectify his image promptly by dismissing corrupt members and advisors and by chooses honest. It’s really a though job but has to be done to clean image.