Congress carries out major reshuffle in key state-level roles

Among the outgoing leaders is Dipak Babaria, who held the top post for Haryana when the party lost the Assembly polls in the state last year.

Mohan Prakash (Bihar), Bharatsinh Madhavsinh Solanki (Jammu & Kashmir), Rajeev Shukla (Himachal Pradesh, Chandigarh), Ajoy Kumar (Odisha, Tamil Nadu and Puducherry) and Devender Yadav (Punjab) were the other outgoing general secretaries and in-charges.

In the past few days, the Congress has also appointed state chiefs in Odisha and Maharashtra.

After a Congress Working Committee (CWC) meeting in Karnataka’s Belagavi on December 26, the party had announced its decision to reshuffle the organization from top to bottom. It had said that “2025 will be the year of organisational strengthening for the party on all levels”.

Former Chhattisgarh chief minister Bhupesh Baghel has been appointed the general secretary for Punjab, while Rajya Sabha member Syed Naseer Hussain was appointed to the post in Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh. Hussain was in charge of the Congress president’s office from December 2023.

Rajani Patil, who so far had the charge for Jammu and Kashmir, was appointed the in-charge for Himachal Pradesh and Chandigarh. Patil represents Maharashtra in the Rajya Sabha. The charge for Haryana has been given to former Rajya Sabha member from Karnataka B K Hariprasad.

Girish Chodankar, who so far held charge of the north-eastern states of Tripura, Sikkim, Manipur and Nagaland since 2023, has been given the charge of Tamil Nadu and Puducherry. Chodankar hails from Goa and held the post of president of the Goa Pradesh Congress Committee from 2018 to 2022.

Former Congress Uttar Pradesh chief Ajay Kumar Lallu, who had been sidelined from the party since the defeat in the 2022 state Assembly polls, has been given the charge of Odisha.

K Raju, who was the national coordinator for the party’s SC, ST, OBC and minorities department, has been given the charge for Jharkhand.

Former Lok Sabha member from Mandsaur Meenakshi Natarajan has been appointed in-charge for Telangana.

Saptagiri Sankar Ulaka, the party Lok Sabha from Koraput (Odisha), has been given the charge for Tripura, Sikkim, Manipur, and Nagaland.

Krishna Allavaru, who is the national in-charge for Indian Youth Congress, has been given charge of Bihar, where elections are due later this year.