Anil Shastri removed as Congress mouthpiece editor

Shastri,who is a special invitee to Congress Working Committee,had courted controversy recently over an editorial in ‘Sandesh’ in which he had attacked the government for sending four senior ministers to receive yoga guru Ramdev at the airport.

AICC had distanced itself from the editorial dubbing it as the personal view of Shastri and asking him not to put his own views in the party’s mouthpiece.

Shastri has now been made in-charge of the Hindi department while Pankaj Sharma,also associated with Sandesh,has been made its secretary.

Girija Vyas,a former Chairman of the AICC media department,has also been made chief of the party’s Vichar Vibhag.

Another change effected in Congress Sandesh is the inclusion of Union Minister Jairam Ramesh as one of the two members of the Editorial Board replacing Sarvajit Singh who had squarely blamed DMK for losses of Congress in Tamil Nadu and Puducherry Assembly elections.

He had also said Congress must not lose its vote bank due to the mistakes of its coalition partners.

Another member of the board Union Minister Salman Khurshid continues.