Congress appoints three new Secretaries in Gujarat ahead of polls

The Congress on Friday appointed three Secretaries to work in Gujarat where elections are due later this year, and removed the current leaders.

Umang Singhar, Virender Singh Rathore and B.M. Sandeep have been given the responsibility of assisting Raghu Sharma who is in charge of the state. Ramkishan Ojha has also been drafted for party work in the state.

The Congress is out of power in Gujarat since 1989 and in the last elections, despite coming close, could not dislodge the ruling BJP. The party is preparing to galvanise the state organisation in order to mount a serious challenge.

In a recent meet chaired by senior leader Rahul Gandhi, state leaders mentioned the option of poll strategist Prashant Kishor beingh brought in for strategy.

However, there was no decision and the leaders moved on to discuss the organisational issues of the party, a source said.

There are said to be back-channels talks going on again after the initial negotiations failed, but the Congress denied it. However, the party has taken on board a close aide of Kishor, to work for the party without any condition, as the joining of the political consultant was stalled by Congress leaders because he wanted a major say in ticket distribution.

The BJP has already started preparing for the Gujarat elections. Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who has already visited the state after the party’s triumph in the five Assembly elections, recently met all party MPs from the state.

–IANS

miz/vd

(Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)

Dear Reader,

Business Standard has always strived hard to provide up-to-date information and commentary on developments that are of interest to you and have wider political and economic implications for the country and the world. Your encouragement and constant feedback on how to improve our offering have only made our resolve and commitment to these ideals stronger. Even during these difficult times arising out of Covid-19, we continue to remain committed to keeping you informed and updated with credible news, authoritative views and incisive commentary on topical issues of relevance.

We, however, have a request.

As we battle the economic impact of the pandemic, we need your support even more, so that we can continue to offer you more quality content. Our subscription model has seen an encouraging response from many of you, who have subscribed to our online content. More subscription to our online content can only help us achieve the goals of offering you even better and more relevant content. We believe in free, fair and credible journalism. Your support through more subscriptions can help us practise the journalism to which we are committed.

Support quality journalism and subscribe to Business Standard.

Digital Editor