Rahul Gandhi confidants get posts in Congress piecemeal changes

Babaria has his task cut out: putting the Congress house in order in Madhya Pradesh and bringing the party back to power in the Hindi heartland state where it has been out of power for the last 14 years. A chemical engineer, Babaria, 65, was attached to Rahul Gandhi when the latter was the AICC general secretary in charge of Youth Congress. Babaria was the founding general secretary of NSUI, the party’s students’ wing, in Gujarat in 1973. Party leaders said he enjoys complete trust and confidence of Rahul.

Dev, who represent Silchar (Assam) in Lok Sabha, is also one of the young leaders who Rahul trusts. Sources said the party is also set to replace Arun Yadav as the president of MP Congress. A new team for the state would be in place soon, a party leader said.

The replacement of Mohan Prakash as the party’s Madhya Pradesh in-charge was on the cards as he had come under severe criticism over his style of functioning. Prakash will continue to hold charge of Maharashtra in his capacity as AICC general secretary.

Instead of a massive overhaul, the Congress had been making piecemeal changes in the AICC secretariat, with many Rahul confidants and party veterans appointed as general secretaries and in-charges of states. While veterans Sushil Kumar Shinde and Ashok Gehlot were made general secretaries in charge of Himachal Pradesh and Gujarat, respectively, young leaders K C Venugopal, A Chella Kumar and R P N Singh were given the charge of Karnataka, Goa and Jharkhand, respectively.